


Home in My Love

by MicheTS



Series: Carmilla Karnstein Vigilante of Styria City (Batmilla AU) [2]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Batmilla, F/F, F/M, Hoping you'll come for the smut and stay for the story, Let's start this thing with a bang, Literally. They bang on in the first chapter this time, Multi, Stealing some Batman characters this time, Vigilante/Cop AU, dramatic rescue bids, secret military operations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:42:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 44,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26913844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MicheTS/pseuds/MicheTS
Summary: A year has passed since Carmilla became the vigilante protector of Styria City, facing her brother and the reality of where she came from. Laura quit the police force and found herself a new calling and Danny...well Danny's just Danny. With an old friend of Laura and Danny's prowling the streets on a murderous spree, can Carmilla do enough to save not only the citizens of Styria City, but herself.
Relationships: LaFontaine/Lola Perry, Laura Hollis/Carmilla Karnstein, Wilson Kirsch/Danny Lawrence
Series: Carmilla Karnstein Vigilante of Styria City (Batmilla AU) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1963741
Comments: 47
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah hell. I had an idea for a sequel didn't I? It wouldn't stop bugging me after I posted the last chapter of part 1...so, here we are I guess. I did mention to someone in the comments of Halfway Home that there was a sequel tickling my brain. Guess it got done tickling and wanted written.
> 
> The posting schedule for this adventure won't quite be as fast as the last as this one is pretty much being written in real time. I'm aiming for a chapter a week, but that will all depend on my workload and such. Stick with me though if you're enjoying it, hit subscribe/bookmark if you don't wanna miss out.
> 
> Since I made all y'all sit through 40,000 words of nonsense to get to the smut last time, I figured we'd start the story off with a bang this time. Literally. They're banging by the third paragraph. I hope you'll be drawn in by the smut and stay for the story. 
> 
> Borrowed Victor Zsasz from the Batman Universe as a villain (the whole thing was inspired years ago when someone went, what if Carmilla was Batwoman, so I don't see why I shouldn't dip in the bat's rogue gallery). You may recognise the name Zsasz if you've seen the excellent Birds of Prey, but this aint that Victor Zsasz. Nope. I'm using the really creepy, sick 90's version of the character because he freaked me the fuck out then and still does to this day. Full disclosure, a lot of the Zsasz plot is borrowed from the Knightfall storyline (particularly Issue 496), but everything else is just my dumb brain.
> 
> Anyways, I have rambled enough. If you've made it this far...WAIT. Have you read part 1? Cos if you haven't, the below is not going to make much sense. This aint your regular Laura and Carm.
> 
> TW for this Chapter: There's a brief gory description of a murder towards the end. But it's brief.  
> As always if you read this and wish something had been tagged as a TW, please let me know. I'm open to learn constantly.
> 
> Shall we begin? Let's...

Carmilla let out a quiet chuckle as her bare back met the mattress of Laura’s unmade bed. She propped herself up on her elbows, smirking hungrily as she watched Laura discard her own clothing and stalk towards her.

It had been...a while. Between Laura’s new job at the Styria City Gazette and a psycho loose in the City, they had been very, very busy. Separately. Not together. It had been a struggle to make some sorely needed time with one another. Carmilla had decided to change that though when she determinedly climbed through Laura’s open window at 2 am on a Thursday morning. She was damned if she was spending another moment away from the woman she loved. One minute she was joking to a startled Laura that she shouldn’t leave her window so accessible to intruders at night, the next she was punch drunk on kisses, stripped bare and shoved roughly onto the bed.

Hovering above her, Laura kissed Carmilla deeply, gripping a wrist gently but firmly in each hand. Laura tugged forward, causing Carmilla to fall onto her back. Carmilla huffed out a laugh, a challenge really, as Laura trapped her between her body and the mattress. With a determined look, Laura pinned Carmilla’s hands above her head. Carmilla smiled into another heated kiss. So, it was to be like this. Laura always loved a display of dominance and Carmilla loved to let her think she was in charge.

Laura’s tongue slid against Carmilla’s as she relinquished her grip and ran her arms slowly down Carmilla’s torso. She knew she was driving Carmilla insane with her too light touches. She shuddered and moaned quietly into Carmilla’s mouth when she felt impatient nails drag down her back. 

Laura pulled away slightly, an attempt to catch her breath. She leant into Carmilla’s touch as Carmilla reached up and gently brushed some stray hair behind her ear. Laura gazed down at Carmilla, her pupils blown wide, and Carmilla knew that Laura was almost ready to give in,

“What do you need, Cutie?” Carmilla asked, and Laura’s breath hitched.

Carmilla began to sit up, she pushed Laura with her and helped her to straddle her lap. Carmilla’s hands automatically found themselves on Laura’s ass (as they so often did) grabbing and squeezing and encouraging Laura to grind her hips down against her,

“What do you need, Sweetheart?” Carmilla asked again before grabbing the back of Laura’s neck and pulling her into a filthy kiss.

Laura groaned loudly as one of Carmilla’s hands gripped the hair at the base of her skull just a little too tight. The other hand wandered, brushing briefly against her needy clit.

A small whimper escaped Carmilla as she realised just how wet Laura already was. However, she wasn’t taking Laura’s increasingly desperate squirming as an answer. Instead, Carmilla broke the kiss and ducked her head, her lips closing around one of Laura’s pert nipples. Laura gasped and arched her back, one hand seeking to tangle in Carmilla’s hair and hold her in place,

“What do you need?” Carmilla all but growled as she switched her attention to the opposite breast.

The third time was the charm and Carmilla smiled as Laura grabbed at her wandering hand. Brazenly she tugged it between her legs,

“I need you inside,” Laura mumbled as she held the hand firmly in place and began to rub herself against Carmilla’s fingers.

The request sent a kick of arousal straight to Carmilla’s cunt, the throbbing between her own legs almost leading her to forget what she was doing, “Goddess, I missed you.” Carmilla breathed as she tried to regain some semblance of composure and concentration. Laura was so wet and so hot against her fingers that Carmilla only had the self-control to allow her to hold her hand in place for a few seconds before taking charge and sinking two fingers inside.

Carmilla watched as expressions of pleasure and relief flickered across Laura’s face before diverting her gaze downward to watch as her fingers slid in and out of Laura with ease. Laura whimpered and moaned, writhing in Carmilla’s lap,

“More,” Laura panted.

It took a moment for Carmilla’s lust hazed brain to catch up with Laura’s request, but she knew she had it right when she slid a third finger easily inside and Laura let out a guttural moan. Laura wound her arms around Carmilla’s shoulders, her forehead falling to rest against Carmilla’s. She panted and gasped against Carmilla’s mouth in rhythm with the movements of the fingers inside her. 

As Laura began to tighten around Carmilla’s fingers, Carmilla angled her hand to brush her thumb against Laura’s swollen clit,

“Fuck, oh good guh-fuuuuh...right _there_ Carm,” Laura groaned. She buried her face into Carmilla’s shoulder, her entire body beginning to tremble.

“Laura,” Carmilla purred into Laura’s ear, “it was always only you.”

Laura’s hips jerked uncontrollably a few more times before she became rigid and came with a loud moan, her entire body shuddering and shaking against Carmilla.

“That sounded satisfying,” Carmilla stated with a throaty laugh, running her free hand through Laura’s hair. She made sure Laura knew she was still there and she wasn’t planning on going anywhere any time soon if she could help it.

Laura managed a good natured, out of breath grunt in agreement and lifted her lower half up slightly to allow Carmilla to slide her fingers free. Laura eventually managed to lift her head and kissed Carmilla on the shoulder before sliding off her lap and sprawling out on her back. 

Laura stared at the ceiling as her vision came back to normal and the hammering in her chest settled to a more regular thump. Carmilla settled on her left elbow and smiled, she was never happier than when she watched Laura’s flushed chest rising and falling, basking in the afterglow.

“I think you’ve broke me this time, Ladykiller.” Laura closed her eyes and enjoyed the complete relaxation she was feeling, “Kiss me, I can’t move.” 

“Is that an order?” Carmilla asked as she leaned closer.

“Do you want it to be?” Laura replied teasingly before their lips met, “I missed you too, come here,” Laura murmured against Carmilla’s mouth, nipping gently at her bottom lip.

“Cutie, I was just three knuckles deep in you, how much closer would you like me to get?” Carmilla raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“You have a filthy mouth when you’re worked up, Carmilla Karnstein,” Laura laughed as she slapped Carmilla on the ass. She settled her hand on the back of Carmilla’s thigh and tugged gently. 

A silent ‘oh’ formed on Carmilla’s lips when she realised just where Laura wanted her. Carmilla got to her knees and allowed Laura to position her above her face.

“I don’t think I will ever tire of this view,” Laura drawled lazily, “I could write volumes on it,” she blew a cool breath across Carmilla’s swollen clit and chuckled when Carmilla’s hips jerked involuntarily.

“Sweetheart,” Carmilla warned, “I didn’t te—"

Laura didn’t let Carmilla finish her sentence, instead she hooked her arms around Carmilla’s thighs and pulled her down to meet her eager mouth. Laura moaned, the heady taste of Carmilla coating her tongue. She tightened her grip on Carmilla’s thighs, pulled her further down towards her mouth, harder. Laura was being greedy and she didn’t care.

Carmilla would have time later to be embarrassed about the pathetically desperate whimper she let out at the first stroke of Laura’s tongue, but for now all she could do was lose herself to the feeling. When Laura moaned against her, the vibration added an extra layer to the pleasure coursing through her veins. Laura was relentless, always relentless, licking long, hot stripes through Carmilla’s wetness, pushing her tongue inside only to remove it when Carmilla began to grind down onto it. She sucked Carmilla’s clit into her mouth and swiped her tongue over it at ever increasing speeds until Carmilla’s legs were shaking on either side of her head.

Carmilla braced herself against the wall. She wasn’t ready to let go just yet. She wanted to teeter on the edge just a little longer. Deny herself that quick release. Carmilla dropped one hand down and grabbed a hold of Laura’s hair, holding her head still so she could wantonly grind down against Laura’s face. Making sure to hold eye contact with Laura, Carmilla’s other hand pounded against the wall as she swore and moaned and begged Laura not to stop, to never stop.

The needy jerks of Carmilla’s hips against Laura’s face became more and more erratic as the heat in her lower stomach began to build to an almost unbearable level. Just when Carmilla thought she couldn’t take it any longer, when she would either have to tap out or explode, Laura’s lips closed around her clit and she sucked hard until Carmilla came against her mouth with a half-choked sob of her name.

Carmilla placed her head against the cool wall and tried to settle her breathing. Needing to be close to Laura, she shuffled back far enough and collapsed on top of her in a blushing, panting heap.

Laura let out a gentle ‘oof’ before placing a kiss to the crown of Carmilla’s head.

“Move in with me,” Carmilla mumbled into the crook of Laura’s neck.

Laura blinked a couple of times, unsure if she had heard Carmilla correctly.

When Laura didn’t reply, Carmilla forced herself up on to her elbows so she could look Laura in the eye, “Move in with me.” She said again.

“For real?” Laura asked quietly.

“Yes, Cupcake,” Carmilla laughed, “for real. Even if we’re busy, I would like very much to at least fall asleep and wake up with you every morning.”

A broad grin broke across Laura’s face, “I would lo—" Laura paused as a red, rapidly flashing glow broke the darkness of her bedroom, “It’s him isn’t it?” She asked solemnly, her fingers absent-mindedly reaching to trace the small scar that ran from her left ear to the start of her jaw line.

Carmilla groaned as she untangled herself from Laura and located her bracelet amongst the piles of discarded clothing on the floor, “It is.” She replied, “I had LaFontaine set the bracelet up to pulse faster for any potential reports of Mr. Zsasz.” Carmilla began pulling her uniform back on as quick as possible.

“I hope you make it this time,” Laura swung her legs out of bed and crossed round to meet Carmilla by the window.

Carmilla grimaced as she zipped her jacket and shoved her feet into her boots, “I do too, Cutie.”

The last victim of Victor Zsasz was still haunting Carmilla’s waking hours, never mind her dreams. The way he would pose them in life like positions, their throats slit, made her skin crawl. The fact that he’d once had his hands on Laura, had even marked her skin, that just made Carmilla seethe.

Luna had never faced a criminal like Mr. Zsasz, and from what Laura and Danny had said, the Styria City PD hadn’t come across many like him either. As they told it, Zsasz was one of the first cases Danny and Laura worked when they were fresh out the academy. They may have only been beat cops at the time, but that certainly didn’t stop Laura ending up, up-close and personal with the killer. Carmilla marveled at younger Laura’s propensity for finding herself in the most troubling situations at any given time. It was definitely her super power.

From the old case files that Danny passed Carmilla, she gathered that Zsasz was completely unpredictable. Seeming to have no qualms about who he killed, nor when he killed, nor where. He was almost impossible to track with no motive or clue trail to follow. However, Danny was confident that if the SCPD caught him once, they would catch him again, especially since she was the lead detective on the case this time round. Carmilla couldn’t stop thinking about how many people would suffer in the meantime? The three since his escape from prison were three too many.

The criminals of Styria City were usually petty and a little lazy, reliant on guns to do the hard work for them. Victor Zsasz was clearly different. He liked knives. Liked to work up close. He was incredibly intelligent, he couldn’t have killed so many and escaped Styria City’s high security prison without being so. He was also agile and flexible, going toe to toe with Luna and besting her just enough to escape. Carmilla couldn’t let him escape again.

In Luna’s only face to face encounter with him, Carmilla could see clear tally marks carved across his torso and down his arms in groups of five. There were so many of them. Laura explained they represented a mark for each victim. Carved into Zsasz’s skin with the murder weapon. His ritual. There were so, so many of them. So many people she had failed already. The fact he’d gotten away from Luna to potentially kill again made Carmilla’s stomach churn. 

Laura leaned up on her toes, Carmilla that little bit taller in her boots, “Be careful,” she placed a gentle kiss to Carmilla’s lips. Laura could see Carmilla’s brain whirring, knew the anxiety and frustration she felt in hunting someone as dangerous as Mr. Zsasz.

“Always.” Carmilla said, still distracted as she climbed out on to Laura’s fire escape.

With a half-hearted wink, Carmilla was gone.

#

Danny pumped her legs and cursed as she watched Kirsch’s back disappear round the trailhead and back down the hill. He was cheating and he knew it. Yelling, ‘Race you to the gnarly tree, D-bear!’ and taking off at full speed as they completed their second jogged loop of the trail was not sports person-like.

As she bolted down the hill and saw her tall, goofy boyfriend jogging round the tree, his arms raised in victory, any irritation melted away. She couldn’t stay mad at him,

“You’re a dirty cheat Wilson Kirsch,” Danny said as she came to a stop. She bent at the waist and breathed through her mouth, trying to catch her breath.

Kirsch smirked and stopped his victory lap, “It’s really not my fault if the SCPD don’t keep you in any sort of shape, babe.”

Danny made a disgruntled noise before stepping into Kirsch’s space, a finger poking at his chest, “I’m in just fine shape, _bro_.”

“Don’t I know it,” Kirsch said quietly as he placed his arms round Danny’s waist and smiled, “I just like you all riled up.”

Just as she was about to give the big lug a sweet kiss, Danny’s phone rang. At this time of the morning, hours before her shift was even meant to start, her phone ringing usually never meant something good,

“Hold that thought,” Danny placed a finger against Kirsch’s lips before stepping away to answer her phone, “Lawrence,” she said, trying hard to pay attention to what was being said on the other end of the line. Which was hard when Kirsch was stretching in those ridiculously tight shorts he insisted on wearing whilst running, “No way, you’re kidding?” Danny said with a half-hearted chuckle, “Yeah, definitely did us a favour.”

‘You ok?’ Kirsch mouthed, pausing mid-stretch as Danny visibly paled.

She shook her head no and muttered, “Yeah, of course, I’ll be right in. Wouldn’t miss it.” Before hanging up the phone.

“Danny, what’s wrong?” Kirsch asked taking a step towards her.

Danny held her hand out to stop his movement, “I, um, I...” Danny began staggering back up the hill towards her car, a little dazed, “I gotta go to work dude, I’ll call you later.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Kirsch called as Danny started running.

Looking back over her shoulder, seeing the perplexed look on Kirsch’s puppy dog face, she said the first thing that came into her head, “No, but I love you.”

Kirsch stood there with his mouth open. They hadn’t said that to each other yet.

#

After Carmilla left, Laura had fallen into a few hours fitful sleep. She had a dream she hadn’t had in years. The one she had for months after Victor Zsasz had almost ended her life. Although, this time, instead of legendary detective Harvey Bullock risking his life to save hers – it was Carmilla. Well it was Carmilla as Luna, but Carmilla all the same. Laura had woken where she always did, with Zsasz’s knife cutting her ear to ear, blood gurgling out the gash in her throat, not making it out alive.

Laura woke with a start and automatically reached for her phone. She frowned, Carmilla hadn’t checked in yet. That was unusual. Unless…no, no it as just the dream freaking her out. Carmilla was fine. Carmilla would check in as soon as she was able. She didn’t need to call LaF, there was no need to panic anyone. If something had happened, she would have gotten a call by now. Right? Right. Danny would have heard something. The paper would have heard something. Someone would have called.

Laura headed to the kitchen to make some coffee. Upon picking up the pot to fill it with water, she decided caffeine probably wasn’t a great idea in her already jittery state and opted to make an indulgent hot chocolate instead. As she waited for the milk to boil, her thoughts turned again to Victor Zsasz. His story, weirdly, wasn’t unlike Carmilla’s.

Before he was Styria City’s resident slasher Zsasz was the head of his own international company, with an immense family wealth to boot. He too lost his parents in a freak accident, boating if Laura remembered correct, although older than Carmilla at age 25. He also took off round the world, but instead of channeling his grief into anything resembling something good, he turned to gambling. Losing money in competitions all over the globe. That was how Styria City had been unlucky enough to become his home. Down to his last few thousand, he found himself here, gambling at The Lustig. After losing everything that night he realised his life was empty and there was nothing left to live for. Apparently, he had decided to throw himself off one of the cities famous bridges, instead he ended up taking his first life.

Laura could still hear the creepy lilt of his voice from the confession tape when he was finally brought in after a murderous spree that terrorised Styria for months. The slow and methodical way in which he explained we were all zombies. That all life was meaningless and that nothing nor anyone mattered. Laura shuddered and poured her milk from the pan into her mug and begin mixing in the chocolate powder. Victor Zsasz saw his murderous ways as a “gift” to humanity, liberating his victims from their pointless existence. Laura snorted. Yeah, she sure was grateful for the scar Zsasz gifted her. A constant reminder of how close she came to death. How stupid she’d been as a young cop.

Taking the first sip of her hot chocolate, Laura was thrilled to feel her phone vibrate in the pocket of her sweats. She was less than thrilled to see it wasn’t Carmilla on the caller ID. Rather, it was a text from her contact at the morgue. Being a reporter wasn’t terribly different from being a cop, you still had sources you worked, you still had beats to patrol and you still spent half your time chasing dead ends. Something about it though, just felt more… Laura to Laura.

Touching the notification on screen, Laura opened the text,

_Scoop of the century, Hollis. Watch this video and thank me later when you’re the most talked about journalist in Styria City._

Ok, Laura thought as she clicked on the private link and waited for the video to load, her interest was definitely piqued. It wasn’t live, rather it was time stamped to around an hour ago, still fresh though. Laura could feel adrenaline start to tingle in her veins, the weird itch she felt in her fingers when she knew a good story was coming her way and she was going to write it, be the one to tell the world about it.

As the video started, all Laura could see was darkness. There was some rustling and mumbling and then a voice broke through more clearly,

“This is highly unprofessional people, you have to clear out once the mask is off and let me work.”

Laura knew that voice. It was Styria City’s chief coroner.

There was more rustling and a burst of light as the owner of the camera moved. Laura realised the camera (probably a cell phone) was being held at hip height as the owner tried to push through a crowded room. As the lens adjusted to the light and refocused Laura felt her stomach lurch, acid crawling up her throat, she was going to be sick. Laid out on the coroner’s slab was Luna.

“Come on and get on with it then Doc, some of us have good money riding on who’s under that hood.”

Laura couldn’t see Mulcahey, but she’d recognise his braying, jackass voice anywhere. Her hands started to tremble as shock seeped into her system. Laura’s brain stuttered, instantly going into denial. No, no, no, no, no, that wasn’t Carmilla. It couldn’t be Carmilla. Zsasz wouldn’t’ have gotten the best of her. He couldn’t have. Just before the video cut out, Laura registered Danny’s tall frame at the back of the crowd on the opposite side of the table. She looked horrified and pale.

Danny let herself in the front door of her old apartment block and began trudging up the stairs to Laura’s apartment. It seemed odd to her in the moment that she had never returned her key, but that was hardly the oddest thing she had encountered that day and it wasn’t even past 11 am. Christ, she was exhausted. Still in her running gear from that morning Danny was well aware she required a shower and if her stomach grumbling was any indication, she needed something to eat as well. Danny paused at her old apartment door and sighed. She figured she should knock instead of using her key. That was polite. God knows what might be going on, on the other side of that door. What Danny couldn’t figure out was how to explain what she’d just seen at the morgue.

Just as she raised her hand to knock, the door flew open and Danny found herself face to face with a wild-eyed looking Laura. Oh hell, Danny knew that look well. Laura knew. Laura knew that Luna had been brought into the morgue and she was fucking pissed. Before she could open her mouth, Danny instinctively took a step back. Laura’s eyes narrowed, rigid, cold and hard. Shit, Danny knew that look too,

“How could you just stand there!” Laura launched herself at Danny and began smacking at her arms and chest with open palms, “Why didn’t you call me right away? Why was everyone just crowded round her like a bunch of fucking ghouls?” Laura was yelling now, throwing every ounce of shock and confusion pulsing through her brain at Danny.

“Laura, Laur’” Danny flailed, torn between trying to protect herself from Laura’s increasingly harsher blows and trying to grab Laura’s hands and stop the attack all together, “Hollis, stop!” Danny yelped as she threw her hands up in front of her chest to block an actual punch, thankful she was a good bit taller and Laura couldn’t actually reach her face. As Laura began to tire a little, Danny finally saw her opportunity. Swiftly she wrapped Laura in a tight bear hug,

“Laura. Laura, listen to me.” Danny said firmly as she walked them back through the apartment door, kicking it shut behind her. She felt the fight go out of Laura, her ex-partner going limp in her arms, the only warning Danny got was a small sniffle before Laura began to quietly sob,

“Hollis, it wasn’t her.” Danny squeezed Laura for emphasis as she placed her feet back on solid ground, “Shh, it wasn’t her, Laur’” Danny soothed as she held Laura tight, “It wasn’t Carmilla.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of for fuc...Carmilla, you couldn't go one chapter without disappearing?!
> 
> So if Carmilla wasn't in Luna's suit, who was? Where's Carmilla? Can poor Laura's nerves take this...again? Did Danny get punched in the tit by tiny ball of rage Laura Hollis? (Aye, that last one is likely).
> 
> Thoughts? I welcome them. Leave me comments, leave me kudos, leave me loooooove.
> 
> Til next time Batmilla fans...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where’s Carmilla? Yeah…she doesn’t know the answer either, but let’s figure it out with her. Laura Hollis says ACAB and Danny…Danny’s a bit of a douche canoe. She can’t help it. It’s her default setting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for this chapter: Mentions of being drugged against your consent. Mentions of small spaces and ptsd induced claustrophobia. Brief mention of a violent crime scene. Wee bit of warning for anyone emetophobic that can’t read about the thing either. Mentions of needles.
> 
> It’s occurred to me in planning plot points of this fic, that nearly all the fic I’ve ever written for this fandom (inc the slightly shite stuff that I took down cos I was finding my feet again as a writer and it’s not great, bob) all include Laura and Carmilla being separated for great chunks of the story. Now if I could only figure out what I’m trying to process in writing this same trope over and over…  
> Anyway, shall we? Let’s…

The first time Carmilla regained consciousness, she wasn’t sure she was conscious at all. Her head may as well as been made from cotton candy all the good it was doing her. It felt barely there, faintly attached to her body. Her body? Hmmm, she couldn’t really feel that either. Where were her hands? Where were her legs? Was she now just a free-floating consciousness bobbing through the ether?

_You’ve been drugged Karnstein. Get your shit together._

Wait. Who said that? Carmilla turned her head in the gloom chasing the voice, only to realise she couldn’t really turn her head at all. She frantically swivelled her eyes, left to right, left to right, trying to catch a glimpse of something, someone, anything really. All she could see was darkness.

The voice sighed, _Carmilla. I am the last lucid vestige of your currently addled brain. You are drugged. You need to shake it off._

Carmilla groaned, unable to get her tongue to work quite right. It was heavy and thick in her mouth. Flopping about like a freshly caught fish. Shit. The voice was right. She had been drugged. Suddenly a small slit of intensely bright light cut across her vision,

“Looks like someone’s awake.”

Carmilla winced and blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the glaring invasion that had pierced the darkness she’d been enveloped in. There were a pair of eyes peering at her. Eyes she didn’t recognise. Eyes that didn’t seem kind. Where am I, was what Carmilla wanted to say, but instead she just let out an unintelligible garble. The eyes danced in front of her, cruel mirth shining in them,

“I believe she’s trying to figure out where she is.”

Carmilla started to feel her limbs tingling. They started to feel more like they belonged to her again. She could feel her arms connected to her torso, could wiggle her fingers a little. _The foot bone's connected to the leg bone. The leg bone's connected to the knee bone. The knee bone's connected to…_ the voice in her head sang. Ok, maybe she was still fairly out of it. Carmilla tried to lift her right arm first. What the frilly hell?! She couldn’t move it. Left arm next. Same result. Trying not to let the rising wave of panic crash over her, Carmilla kicked out with her right leg, all that brought her was pain, her ankle held in place, her knee bashing off something immediately in front of her. Shit. Was she in a box? Was she strapped in a fucking box?

The eyes were still peering.

Carmilla stared back and willed her breathing to steady. She didn’t like enclosed spaces, not since…not since being trapped in a burning, creaking, twisted ball of metal that was once her parent’s car.

“Give her another dose.” A second voice directed. Whoever it belonged to didn’t sound half as amused as the owner of the eyes.

Carmilla took a few deep breaths and tried to remember a technique Mattie had taught her. If she engaged her five senses the panic would pass. The panic would pass. She could feel cold sweat starting to gather at the base of her neck and spine. The panic had to pass.

What could she see? Well not a hell of a lot, frankly. The small slit was barely the length of a smart phone and half the height. She couldn’t see three things to name them. So, she just kept staring at the eyes, staring at her.

“Oh, come on,” the owner of the eyes turned to address the second voice, leaving Carmilla to stare at the back of their head, “I kinda like it when they realise they’re effectively in a coffin and start to freak out.”

A coffin? Carmilla screwed her eyes shut and took another deep breath. No, that word wasn’t triggering at all. Letting the breath out slowly, Carmilla kept her eyes shut. What could she hear? A mechanical droning. Was she on a plane? From the choppy whump of the drone, was it more likely a helicopter?

“Give her another dose. Before I give you one.”

Carmilla snapped her eyes open and was about to protest, her tongue was still heavy and uncooperative. The slat was slid mostly shut and Carmilla could see a small nozzle being inserted,

“Spoilsport,”

Was the last thing she heard muttered before a gas started filling the box and she got so tired. So very, very tired.

#

“Did you get it?” Laura asked, standing up from Carmilla’s kitchen table as Danny followed Perry into the room.

Danny sighed and pulled an evidence bag from her pocket, she held it up for everyone present to see, “I did.”

“I hope it wasn’t too much trouble Danny, dear,” Perry said as she drifted towards the kettle and set to fixing a fresh pot of tea.

“It was—”

“The least she could do,” Laura motioned for Danny to hurry up and give the bag to LaFontaine.

Danny scowled at the interruption. She wanted to help, she really did. She was worried about Carmilla too. Despite everything, they had actually grown sorta fond of each other in the last year. What Danny didn’t want to do was jeopardise the career she’d worked so hard for by getting caught stealing from the evidence locker. Laura could at least appreciate the risk she was taking for her, for Carmilla. Danny handed the bag to LaFontaine and slumped into an open seat at the table, she gratefully took a cup of tea from Perry and warmed her hands on it. She was, for a change, exhausted. Carmilla was barely gone a week and it seemed open season had been declared on the city streets. She’d caught more calls in the last week than she could remember.

LaFontaine opened the bag and gently tipped Carmilla’s titanium bracelet out onto their hand, “Good, good,” they muttered as they picked up a small tool and started prodding at the back of the bracelet, “it doesn’t seem to be damaged in anyway.”

“Have you found out who that poor girl was?” Perry asked quietly, looking to Danny, “I can’t believe that horrible man put someone else in Carmilla’s uniform and left her…” Perry trailed off unable to say aloud what had happened to the girl brought in in Carmilla’s uniform.

“Crucified Perr’,” Laura huffed, complete contempt for Perry’s squeamishness evident in her voice, “her throat was slit and she was crucified between two trees.”

“Laura,” LaFontaine cautioned, never looking up from their task.

“Sorry Perry.” Laura mumbled, she put her head down sufficiently shamed and waited for LaF to finish what they were doing. She didn’t dare look up, able to feel the hole Danny was trying to burn into her with her dismayed stare.

“It’s ok Laura,” Perry said patiently, “do you want another hot chocolate?”

Laura shook her head no, she couldn’t speak in case she burst into tears or said something awful again. All she was doing was being petulant and unpleasant and Perry was so frigging nice.

As LaFontaine continued to do…whatever it was they were doing, Laura’s leg began to bounce. Gently at first and then at an ever-increasing speed. Danny watched Laura intently. Could see the tremor spread from her leg, through her whole body, knew what was likely to come next,

“Laura?” Danny asked gently, “Should we let the genius here work in peace whilst we go for a walk round the gardens? Get some fresh air?”

Laura’s leg stopped bouncing. She raised her eyes to Danny and looked at her gratefully, “Yeah,” Laura let out a long breath and stretched her arms, “yeah a walk would probably be good.”

“I’ll come get you when LaFontaine has the data from the bracelet,” Perry offered, “oh and please watch that little Pantera doesn’t get out the front door. Carmilla will be livid if that cat goes missing again.”

The unsaid, but understood, ‘if’ Carmilla comes home again hung heavy in the air between the four of them.

“Sure Perr’, no problem.” Danny said as she steered Laura out the kitchen and into the entrance hall.

As if on queue Carmilla’s little black cat came strutting down the grand staircase, prowling her way across the hall to sit proudly at the front door.

“I swear she knows when she’s being talked about,” Laura smiled fondly as she scooped up Pantera and gave her a scritch under the chin.

Danny eyed the cat suspiciously and blanched a little when Laura kissed the side of its face and started to use a cutesy voice to coo at it.

Pantera purred and rubbed her face against Laura’s.

“Still hate cats?” Laura teased as she opened the door a crack and motioned for Danny to slide out. She set Pantera on the ground and quickly slipped through, clicking the door firmly shut before the cat had a chance to escape.

“I don’t hate them per say,” Danny answered, “I’m just not fond of them.”

Laura walked down the front steps and sat at the bottom.

“What happened to going for a walk?” Danny asked joining her.

“I don’t want to go too far,” Laura said looking back at the front door, she was hoping Perry was going to open it sooner rather than later, “and I just want to sit and look at the stars for a while.” She hoped Carmilla was somewhere safe and looking at them too.

“You could have thanked me you know. For putting my neck on the line for you like that.”

Laura turned her attention from the night sky to Danny.

Danny picked at her nails and thought twice about what to say next. Laura was about as stable as a stick of wet dynamite, “I know you’re hurting right now and you’re worried. We all are. But I am trying to help.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Laura apologised, “Thank you. Really. I’m just frustrated.” Laura huffed and ran a hand through her hair, “We should be out there looking for Zsasz, he’s the only person who actually knows what happened that night.”

“You know as well as I do he’s hard to find using regular methods.” Danny offered with a sympathetic shrug, “You just kinda have to wait for him to pop up again like a psychotic whack-a-mole.”

“Oh, screw your regular methods, Dan.” Laura launched herself from the step and began to pace the driveway, “The SCPD are more interested in pinning shitty drug busts on innocent people to get their stats up than they are in finding someone as difficult to track as Zsasz.”

“Wow. Seriously?” Danny looked up from her place on the step and watched Laura carefully. She knew she should deescalate this, she knew she should bite her tongue. Danny also knew this argument had been brewing ever since Laura started a series of articles exposing the corruption at the core of the SCPD and if Laura was intent on starting a fight with someone tonight, it might as well be her and it might as well be this, “A year ago, you were one of us and now you’re…”

“Now I’m what Danny? Huh?” Laura stopped pacing, her hands clenched in fists by her sides, “Now I’m one of _them?_ It shouldn’t be about them and us. It should just be everyone. In it together.”

Danny pushed off the step and pulled herself to her full height, towering over Laura, “You think your stories are helping to do anything other than agitate the police?”

“You think the SCPD are doing anything but agitating citizens?” Laura spat back, “The numbers don’t lie Danny. How many people died in police custody in the last year?” Laura poked a finger in Danny’s chest, “How many innocent people have been put away for the sake of a departmental quota?” Danny could try and threaten her, but she had never intimidated Laura.

Danny opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again. Laura wasn’t wrong, she deflated a little and stepped back out of Laura’s immediate space, “And what do you think I’m doing out there Hollis? Do you think I’m helping pad stats? You don’t think I go to work everyday and try and make a difference?”

Laura closed her eyes and sighed, she thought back to the conversation she had with Carmilla that night she’d confronted her on the roof of the Lustig, “That’s the problem Danny, you can’t make a difference from the inside. Why do you think I quit? The whole system is rotten to the core. It needs torn down. It’s a systemic problem.”

“What’s the solution then?” Danny looked down at her ex-partner, genuinely hoping she had even an inkling of one.

“I don’t know,” Laura threw her hands in the air emphatically, “but I know Carmilla was on to something. She was trying to affect change.”

“By running around in leather and clobbering the bad guys.” Danny scoffed. She still wasn’t a fan of Carmilla’s methods.

“Exactly Danny. She was clobbering the _bad_ guys.” Laura’s voice softened, she was just so tired, “Look, I’m gonna go for a drive, clear my head.” Tired of fighting with Danny. Tired of not knowing where Carmilla was. Tired of being scared that the worst had happened. Again. “Call me when you know anything.”

“Sure thing, Laur’.” Danny said with a slightly bitter bite. She watched Laura stomp to her car. Danny waited until the piece of shit hatchback Laura still drove had pulled out of view before turning and going back inside. What Laura had said to her was starting to really, really bother her.

Danny opened the door a crack, making sure Pantera was nowhere near before slipping back inside. She spotted the cat halfway up the staircase, preening herself. “Yeah, yeah, everyone hates Danny,” she muttered at the cat as she passed, she was sure it was sneering at her.

“Did Laura leave?” LaFontaine asked as Danny re-entered the kitchen.

“We heard raised voices.” Perry added concerned.

Danny shrugged defeatedly, “Laura went for a drive to clear her head.” She parked herself back in the seat she’d vacated earlier and looked at LaFontaine expectantly.

“Probably for the best.” Perry gave Danny’s elbow a supportive squeeze, “She’s struggling as it is.”

“Did you get that thing to do whatever you needed it to do?” Danny asked nodding at the bracelet, Perry’s words weren’t exactly breeding confidence.

“I did,” LaFontaine sighed, worrying the skin on the side of their thumb, “for all the good it did.”

“Nothing useful?” Danny asked frowning.

LaFontaine shook their head, “I was hoping any audio it captured would give us a clue, but no.” LaFontaine held the bracelet out to Danny on a pen, “Wiped it clean of data and of fingerprints as well.”

“Appreciate that.” Danny pulled a fresh evidence bag from her pocket and held it open for LaFontaine to drop the bracelet in, “So we still don’t know where she is?”

“If she still had the thing on, it certainly would be a lot easier to track her.” LaFontaine complained.

#

The second time Carmilla regained full consciousness, she cracked her eyes open cautiously and blinked. Well she wasn’t in a box, so that was an improvement. No. Wait. Carmilla carefully took in her surroundings. She was still in a box, just a _bigger_ box. A cell to be exact. A sterile, thick walled, plexiglass cell. Four clear walls with air vents at the top. Well, at least they were making sure she had plenty of air. The cell was bare, only containing the cot she was lying on and a door with a transfer tray on the opposite wall. Nothing else.

Carmilla groaned as she sat up and immediately lay back down again. Fuck. Her head was swimming. Her stomach lurched every which way anytime she moved an inch.

“Take it slow,” A voice floating from above advised her, “the drugs they pump us full of really do a number on you.” Hell, was she still hearing voices? This one sounded different though. Less in her head. Sort of familiar.

Fuck. The pounding in her skull was intense. Carmilla screwed her eyes shut and felt bile rising at the back of her throat. Flashes of memory started stuttering on the inside of her eyelids. Wisps of recollection that she couldn’t quite grasp fully. The box she was transported in opened, men in uniform, being grabbed at, kicking and fighting. More darkness. Men in white coats. Needles piercing her skin, machines beeping, more darkness. Using her teeth to draw blood when she couldn’t use her hands to defend herself. More darkness. Being dumped in a tank full of god knows what and expecting to drown, but just more darkness. Was that her father singing Edelweiss? More darkness. _Small and white clean and bright, you look happy to meet me_. Darkness. Clawing, suffocating darkness. Carmilla lurched onto her side and threw up what little contents her stomach held.

“Ooft, yeah, get it all up. You’ll feel better.”

Carmilla wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and tried to sit up again. Easier now she’d thrown up. She turned her head slowly to the side and saw through the clear wall to her right, an adjoining cell. She realised the voice had been coming through the air vents. The occupant of the cell next door was a wiry man, dressed in green sweats. His hair was wild, with a scraggy beard to match. He was pacing the far end of his cell anxiously. The movement was making Carmilla dizzy, she looked away.

“Where am I?” Carmilla asked, she looked down at her body, clothed in what could only charitably be described as a thin paper jumpsuit. Blood leaked at the joints of the elbows, a reminder she’d been poked and prodded with various needles. Her body ached like she had the most intense flu, she hurt to the bone.

“I genuinely don’t have a clue.”

Carmilla shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

“They should bring you something more comfortable to wear.”

“How long have I been here?” Carmilla’s sense of time was completely warped. Had it been hours? Days? Weeks? Months?

“I was hoping you could tell me that.” The occupant of the adjoining cell stepped up to their shared wall

Carmilla turned to look at her cellmate again and finally got a good look at his gaunt face,

“William?” Carmilla couldn’t keep the shock out her voice.

“I look that bad, huh sis’?” William smirked and drew his hand down his beard.

“You look like shit.”

William laughed, “Lovely to see you too Carmilla.”

“Fuck you.” Carmilla spat, she looked at her feet and tried to subdue the dry heaves threatening to wrack her body.

“How long has it been?” William asked, tracing his finger lazily along the plexiglass wall, “since we last hung out?”

Carmilla scoffed, he made it sound like they had been at some sort of family gathering the last time they’d met and not kicking the shit out of one another, “Give or take the time I’ve been here, Willy boy, it’s been about a year.”

“Huh.” William said a little surprised, he put his head against the cell wall, “Huh.” He wasn’t sure what was more surprising, that a year had passed or that he had been kept alive for that long.

“How long have I been specifically here?” Carmilla asked, “In this cell?”

William shrugged, “It’s hard to tell. As you can see, there’s not a hint of natural light in this resort.”

Carmilla looked out into where William was gesturing. He wasn’t wrong. Their cells seemed to be surrounded by nothing but darkness. The only light came from the bright and oppressive strip lighting running along the ceiling of the cubes. It was hard to see beyond the cell walls, the light bouncing nothing but reflections of themselves back at them.

“You’re smarter than that, William,” Carmilla sighed impatiently, “I know you’ve figured out a way to tell time roughly.”

“Ok,” William smiled coyly, “they dumped you in next to me sometime between first meal and second meal yesterday.” William tapped on the wall, “I didn’t even realise there was another cell here until they dragged you in and turned on the lights.”

“So, I’ve only been here with you for a day at the most?”

William nodded, “You were unconscious for most of it, mumbling a little.”

William smirked in a way that made Carmilla wince. Hell, she could have been saying anything while she was out of it. Carmilla put her head in her hands. Things were starting to sluggishly click into place, “It’s the military isn’t it? They’re trying to make super soldiers again?”

William pushed off the cell wall and energetically pointed at Carmilla, “Ding, ding, ding.” He leaped up on to his cot, “We have a winner!” He raved.

Carmilla winced at his antics, her head still throbbing, William was even more squirrelly than usual, “They need both of us? They couldn’t just do what they want to do with you?”

William stepped off the cot and padded languidly back to Carmilla, “You really are quite sharp aren’t you Carm?”

Carmilla sneered, she felt her chest fill with rage, “Don’t you dare.”

“Dare what darling sister?” William feigned innocence. He knew that only one person called his sister by that nickname.

“You don’t call me that.” Carmilla’s heart clenched and ached. Goddess. Laura, everyone, they must be worried sick about her. They can’t have thought she’d ran away again. Surely, they were looking for her?

Will smirked. He’d hit the nerve he was aiming for, “How is Detective Hollis?” He asked sweetly.

“Not a detective anymore.” Carmilla snarled.

“Hmm.” William thought for a minute, “I can imagine she’s still sticking her nose in other people’s business though.”

Carmilla stood on shaky legs and met William at the shared wall of their cell. She looked hard at her brother. Her only other living blood relative. This was the closest she’d been to him without throwing a punch. To be honest she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t be trying to punch him in the face right now if they weren’t separated by a wall.

William had her mother’s eyes, cold and blue. She had her father’s, serious and brown. They had both inherited the Karnstein smirk. They both had their mother’s dark hair. It suddenly struck her that she could see herself in his face. She wondered if he could see himself in hers. They stared at each other for a moment before William broke eye contact and looked away.

“William,” Carmilla said in a measured tone, “I need you to tell me everything you know about this place and the lackwits who are operating it.”

William turned around to look at Carmilla again and shook his head, “Oh come on Carmilla, now isn’t the time for your theatrical heroics, they’re watching our every move. Anything we say is being recorded and studied.”

Carmilla had noted the small cameras in the corners of her cell when she’d awoken. Shielding her hands from their view, she signed, “Their hubris will be their downfall. They aren’t expecting us to work together.”

William cocked his head curiously, before shielding his hands and signing back, “Neither am I?” He paused, “How did you know I understood sign language?”

“Your adoptive mother was deaf,” Carmilla replied, “If we don’t work together we’re not getting out of here.”

“I didn’t know you could sign,” William smiled a small, genuine smile.

“There’s a lot you probably don’t know about me.” Carmilla smiled back.

“They’ll separate us when they figure out what we’re doing.” William warned.

“So,” Carmilla sat cross legged on the cold floor of the cell and urged William to follow, “tell me quickly.”

Before William could even sit, the harsh buzzing of a security door unlocking rang through the air, “Fuck,” he yelped as he backed away to the other side of his cell, “I told you they’d be watching us closely.” He began pacing nervously again, “I hope they’re coming for you and not me.”

“Gee thanks,” Carmilla took her cue from William and stood, retreating from the shared wall of their cell to sit on her cot. She tried to peer around the reflection bouncing off the wall in front of her, an attempt to make out anything in the gloom beyond her cell.

William visibly relaxed when he heard what had now become a familiar shuffling limp, “Oh thank you!” he looked up to the ceiling of his cell and put his hands together in prayer, “thank you.”

Carmilla looked at him perplexed. William came closer to her again,

“It’s the nice doctor guy. He’s the only one out of them who is gentle when dealing with me.” William was almost giddy, “Maybe he brought extra food. He does that sometimes. Just…if you see his face, don’t let it put you off eating.”

“The fuck, William?”

William shrugged, “You’ll see.” The transfer tray in William’s cell door slid shut and open again, William clapped his hands in glee and bounded over to it. He triumphantly pulled out a canteen and a brown paper bag.

Shortly after, the transfer tray in Carmilla’s cell rattled back and forth. She didn’t move.

An intercom clicked, “It’s ok Carmilla.” A gravelly voice assured her, “I’m not going to hurt you.” The speaker had a slight Germanic clip to their accent, “It’s just some clothes. Some food and water.”

Carmilla still didn’t move.

“Don’t be a stubborn asshole.” William said shoving the better part of a steak sandwich in his mouth greedily, “You’re lucky if they actually feed us anything edible, never mind the good stuff he brings.” He spoke around the food as he chewed.

Carmilla inched off the cot and cautiously padded over to the transfer tray. A sweater and some water certainly sounded agreeable right about now.

As she drew closer, the lights in Carmilla’s cell dimmed allowing her to see past the cell wall more clearly. Carmilla startled. Stood on the other side was a heavily burned man. The features of his face were barely distinguishable, his skin mottled white, pink and shiny. He wore a black beanie on, what Carmilla assumed was, his bald head. A white doctor’s coat over a heavy green sweater and black jeans. The doctor turned his head and looked away, flinching when Carmilla startled.

She carefully lifted the canteen out with shaky hands,

“Thank you,” Carmilla said as she unscrewed the cap and guzzled the water greedily. She felt awkward that she had reacted poorly to his appearance.

“Are you feeling ok?” The doctor asked. He sounded genuinely concerned.

“I…I guess so,” Carmilla stuttered an answer. She hadn’t expected to hear empathy in the voice of any of her captors.

The doctor turned back towards Carmilla and their eyes met. Carmilla felt the canteen slip through her fingers, but she didn’t hear the clatter it made when it hit the ground, the glug of the water as it spilled. She couldn’t hear anything. Her focus narrowed on the doctor’s serious, brown eyes,

“Dad?” Carmilla blurted out as she surged forward and slammed her hand against the cell wall, desperate to reach out.

The doctor placed his hand on the opposite side of the glass against hers, “Hello Liebling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo boy. So, it’s a regular ol’ Karnstein family reunion in the top-secret military base! Quick translation, liebling is a term of endearment in German sorta like honey or darling. Carmilla’s family are still Austrian in this AU, although I don’t think I really went into that in the first part. I probably should have.
> 
> The next chapter might take a bit of thinking and planning, so I’m going to give myself two weeks to get it ready for y’all. Come back next time for Laura’s continuing spiral, the hunt for Victor Zsasz and probably a liberal helping of exposition as Karl Karnstein explains to his kids just what the fuck is going on. Hit them subscribe and bookmark buttons so you don’t miss out!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura slips a little further, but Danny’s there to catch her. Carmilla and Will spend some time getting to know their dear old Dad. LaFontaine gets to play with weapons again and Perry is the Mum we all need sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for this chapter: I don’t think there’s much tbh. Lil’ mention of violence. Implied invasive medical procedure.
> 
> Hi, hello, welcome back. So, I thought I was going to need two weeks for this chapter and I was sort of right in that what I thought would be one chapter grew arms and legs and has become two chapters and I’ve had to divide it up. Lucky for y’all and our posting schedule, the first bit is done and you can have it now whilst I keep going with the rest.
> 
> Shall we? Let's...

Danny drove slowly, keeping one eye on the road whilst the other scanned the streets looking for Laura. It had been two months since Carmilla had disappeared and things were starting to get out of hand. Laura had picked up Carmilla’s mantle as Styria City vigilante with a fervour she usually reserved for investigating and writing. From the little interaction anyone had had with her recently, it seemed Laura was very much not looking after herself.

Kirsch had seen her on his way home from the bar one night and she’d looked right through him. He said she looked like she hadn’t slept in weeks. Knowing Laura, the way Danny did, she could guess it was likely Laura had reverted to her grape soda and frosted treats diet from college. Which was only slightly better than the beer, pills and cookies diet she’d adopted when Carmilla “died”. What worried Danny the most though, was that Laura was spending most her nights prowling the streets trying to flush out Zsasz. Danny didn’t know what terrified her more, that at this rate Laura might kill herself or that Victor Zsasz may end up doing it for her.

The portable police scanner in the passenger seat crackled to life. Report of officers down outside a bodega a block from where Danny was. Assailant described as 1.57 metres tall, wearing a navy-blue hoodie (hood up), blue denim jacket and olive jeans. Assailant carrying a baseball bat and showing proficiency in some type of martial art. Danny said a silent prayer of thanks to whoever. It had to be Laura.

Danny stepped on the gas and made her way up the block. So far, she’d missed Laura twice that night. If the police scanner was to be believed she’d beat the living shit out of a rapist, prevented a mugging and now by the sounds of it had had a scuffle with two police men. A busy night for Laura. It was almost impressive, Danny reasoned, if it wasn’t so damn worrying. Just because Laura knew Krav Maga, didn’t mean she should be prowling the streets with a baseball bat trying to fill in the gap left by Carmilla. Danny would have felt better if Laura at least had a side arm, but they’d already had a massive blowout about that one. Laura argued that that wasn’t how Carmilla handled things. She wouldn’t use a weapon that could kill someone. Danny argued that the baseball bat was just as capable of killing someone as a gun, Laura countered that she needed some sort of protection and a spatula wasn’t exactly going to cut it. 

Danny breathed a sigh of relief as she finally spotted a familiar figure up ahead. Laura was walking slowly, shoulders hunched. She was weaving a little as she walked, dragging her baseball bat along the concrete of the sidewalk. Laura looked two seconds away from dropping in the street, Danny hated seeing her like this.

Danny slowed the car to a crawl and pulled up alongside Laura,

“Hollis?”

Laura didn’t turn around and kept walking.

“Laura, stop.” 

Laura didn’t.

“Laura Eileen Hollis. I am not above pulling this car over and forcibly putting you inside it.” Danny said sternly and she brought the car to a halt.

Laura finally stopped. She was bone tired and knew that Danny was definitely capable of doing such a thing. It was better to stop than to suffer the indignity of being thrown over Danny’s shoulder and stuffed in the back seat of her car. Laura slowly turned and looked out from under her hood at Danny.

“You ok Hollis?” Danny asked softly, noting that Laura had a busted lip. Dried blood was trailing her chin, her bottom lip swollen and jutting out, a bruise forming at the corner of her mouth.

Laura nodded, a scowl spread across her face. Danny understood now why Kirsch had been so shaken by the look Laura had given him.

Danny winced as Laura pushed her hair out of her face to reveal a black eye. As her hand tucked the stray hair under her hood, Danny saw her knuckles were also cracked and bloody.

“Nice car.” Laura tipped her chin at the black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 that Danny was currently hanging out the driver’s window of.

“It’s Kirsch’s. Please get in.” Danny pleaded. She had to get Laura off the street before some real harm came to her.

Laura shook her head no, she swayed, exhaustion catching up to her now she had stopped moving and the adrenaline of the fight was beginning to wear off, “Kirsch just let you borrow that thing? It’s a classic and your driving is…”

“We can discuss Kirsch’s Chevy Chevelle and my driving privileges on the way to the estate, get in.” Danny tilted her head in the direction of the passenger seat, “Come on, LaF and Perry are worried Laur’, so am I.”

“Leave me alone Danny,” Laura snapped, “I thought we’d moved passed your saviour complex when it came to me.”

Danny almost had to literally bite her tongue, that one stung and she struggled to tamper her temper, “You need to stop running around half-cocked looking for Zsasz and let us help you.”

“You need to stay out of my way.” Laura growled, she raised her bat to her hip and jutted it in Danny’s general direction.

“Laura, I don’t have time for your bullshit.” Danny said firmly, gripping the steering wheel, “Get in the car. LaFontaine has something they want to show you and I think you’ll want to see it.”

Laura looked around, a flash of panic in her eyes, police sirens had begun to wail closer and closer.

“Look, you either get in or I leave you here and you can figure out how to evade them.” Danny threw her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the approaching squad cars, “You don’t look like you’re in any shape to be running from the police right now.”

“Fine.” Laura huffed, Danny was right. Her legs felt heavy as lead. There was no way she was up for a foot chase through the back alleys of Styria City.

“Heard you busted the balls of a rapist earlier. Literally.” Danny smirked as Laura climbed in the passenger side of the car and buckled up, “Good job Hollis.”

Laura grinned and let her head fall against the cool glass of the passenger side car window. She closed her eyes and for the first time in weeks, Laura felt herself relax a little.

#

Carmilla couldn’t believe it. Her father was alive. After all this time, her father was actually alive. For a moment she thought it a cruel trick, something dreamt up by her captors to psychologically break her, but no, it was definitely her father. Her father was alive and he was as shocked to see Carmilla as she was to see him.

There was a security shift change at least once a week which allowed Carmilla’s father to switch off the cameras to the cells for around 20 minutes. This allowed them to talk freely, all be it briefly. Carmilla relished any opportunity he snuck to come and talk with them. She listened intently as her father explained that after the car crash, he had not been a well man physical nor mentally. He had been told his wife and child were dead. Third and fourth degree burns covered the majority of his body and his left leg had been mangled, pinned back together but never quite the same. It was a long road to recovery and the military seemed invested in being there to care and support him. With no one left to live for, or so he thought, he had let them. It was at least a year or so before he was out of bed, another year or so before he even ventured outside and realised he had been living on a secret remote base hidden away on an island.

“We’re on an island?” Carmilla had asked, a little dismayed. An island? They literally could be tucked away anywhere on the ocean.

“Yes,” her father had confirmed, “they tend to hide their…less ethical projects here.”

“Can Laura swim?” Will asked cruelly.

“I hate you.” Carmilla brooded.

William had taken the resurrection of their father…less enthusiastically. He’d been there a year after all and it was only now that Karl Karnstein had made himself known. Now that _precious_ Carmilla was captured. In fact, William had much preferred it when he hadn’t known who Karl Karnstein was at all. When he’d just thought of him as the nicest of the assholes holding him captive. William remained cold and indifferent, this man was no more his father than Carmilla was really his sister. These people had never given a damn about him.

“Why didn’t you try and leave?” Carmilla had asked her Dad. The man she knew as her father would never have just given up like this. Become subservient and pliable. Her parents had gone to such lengths to make sure Project Frey had failed and been destroyed, why just fall back into lockstep with the people they had hidden Carmilla and William from?

“I thought I had nothing to leave for.” Karl looked at his hands. Shame burned in his eyes.

“You had one child left,” William scoffed. The unsaid, ‘you could have chosen to leave for me’ sat between the two men like an insurmountable object.

Karl looked at his son, pained, “I - I didn’t think you would want anything to do with me. A broken and burned shell of a man who had given you away. You were better off where you were. Without me.”

William hadn’t replied. Instead he removed himself from the conversation by climbing on to his cot and turning his back on the room. That had been the end of that particular visit as far as William was concerned.

#

Laura sat on the sofa in Carmilla’s library, clean and fed. She watched, quiet and somber, as Perry gently applied ointment to her cracked and swollen knuckles, a suture already placed in her lip.

“Anything else hurt?” Perry asked as she carefully wrapped Laura’s hands in gauze.

Her heart. She wanted to say her heart hurt like hell. Laura hung her head and felt a tear roll down her cheek, “I miss her so much Perr.”

“I know, I know,” Perry wrapped her arms around Laura and held her tight whilst she sobbed, “you don’t have to bear this burden alone though.” Perry ran a hand soothingly up and down Laura’s back, “We miss her too and we are all doing what we can to find her.”

Laura pulled back from the embrace and wiped her nose on the rolled-up sleeve of her hoodie, “I’m sorry,” she sniffed, “I, I’ve been a selfish b-ad person. I never learn.”

“Nonsense, Laura,” Perry busied herself with tidying up her suture tray.

“You’re too nice to say it Perry, but it’s true. When I get stressed my view becomes myopic.” Laura waved her hands in the air as she spoke, still a little wild if not subdued for her, “I can never see the big picture and instead hammer away at one thing until it breaks or I do.” 

A yawn suddenly snuck up on Laura, she winced when the stitch in her lip tugged.

Perry looked at Laura kindly and encouraged her to lie back on the sofa, gently she tucked some hair behind Laura’s ear, “I would walk through fire and brimstone to get to LaFontaine if something happened to them.” Perry pulled an old blanket off the back of the sofa and unfolded it, “I would just accept the help of others to get there.”

Laura nodded, between Danny’s mildly aggressive pep talk on the street and Perry’s gentle lecture, the message was received. She wasn’t in this alone. She never had been. Laura yawned again as her eyes grew heavy and she struggled to keep them open.

“You need to rest Laura dear, you’re of no use to anyone exhausted.” Perry draped the blanket over Laura’s curled up body and tucked her in. 

“I thought LaF wanted to show me something?” Laura mumbled as she began to drift off, the blanket smelled comfortingly like Carmilla.

“It’ll still be there in the morning.” Perry placed a gentle kiss to Laura’s forehead and left her in the library to sleep.

#

During his next visit Carmilla’s father tried to explain further why he had resigned himself to staying on the island. To William it sounded much like the same old shit. He watched as Carmilla hung on every word. William wondered what that felt like, what it would feel like to be reunited with someone you had loved so much and who you thought was gone forever?

It was very much blah, blah, blah. The love of his life was gone, one of his children was dead and the other was lost to him. How tragic. His superiors told him what to work on and he did. The world beyond could go to hell for all he cared. How droll. The accident, his injuries, it had all twisted him up inside unexpectedly. Made him lose his way. Unexpectedly, that sparked a pang of recognition in William, that was something he could relate to. The work gave him purpose when he couldn’t figure out one for himself. Maybe he could make himself a new family, find new purpose. Karl said he only started to see how different he’d become, how wrong everything was, when William had been brought here a year ago.

Karl pleaded with William to believe him, he didn’t know that he was being brought to the island. He’d never have wanted that, had tried to put the Major off the idea anytime it was suggested. Had tried every which way to progress, but still hamper the project, at every turn without involving his remaining living child. There was only so much sabotage and misleading paths he could take the research before they would catch on and he had no idea what would happen then. To him or William. Carmilla hadn’t entered into his mind because he hadn’t even known she was still alive. Karl had thought her…safe, with her mother.

The Major – Major Asshole as William called him – wasn’t a stupid man. He was arrogant and vain and had a bit of a god complex, but he wasn’t stupid. He understood the science enough to understand the next logical step that needed to be taken. That the key to triumph would lie in the only successful subjects produced from Project Fray.

So, they had been right in their assumption about the military trying to make super soldiers again. This time, however, they didn’t want to birth and raise them. It was too lengthy a process, too expensive. This time they wanted to create something more immediate and more accessible with subjects they already knew to be good soldiers. It turned out Carmilla’s father was working on an injectable. A serum. Something that could be given to an existing adult to enhance them. Make them stronger, faster, smarter, more like…

“Us. Our DNA is the key?” Carmilla wondered aloud.

“The Major thinks it may be.” Karl replied.

“You don’t?” William questioned.

“Oh, I know it is,” Karl confirmed, “I’ve been trying to put him off that trail ever since they brought you here, William.”

Her father refused to go into detail about what exactly was happening to his children when they were taken from their cells to the labs. It was probably best that they didn’t remember. His obvious discomfort didn’t sit well with Carmilla. She had wanted to push, wanted to know what exactly was happening to them, what violation of her body was occurring. It should be her choice whether to remember or forget. Her father remained steadfast in his resolve not to tell her.

Carmilla still had so many questions. Her father often had to leave quickly and every time he did she was left with a million questions just ricocheting round her brain. Why just capture William a year ago? Surely if they knew where to find William, they knew where to find Carmilla too. Their paths had crossed too spectacularly in the last year for her to stay off the military’s radar.

“I believe,” Karl answered, “you piqued the Major’s interest with your crime fighting.”

Carmilla blushed slightly, she could see the pride in her father’s eyes,

“From what I now understand he wanted to observe you further. See what his new soldiers would be capable of. They only brought you here when it became blatant that you would be necessary, Liebling.”

William gagged, “Oh great, Carmilla gets the silver spoon again. Saved from the indignity of becoming a lab rat.”

“I’m here now asshole.” Carmilla had meant for her statement to be somewhat sympathetic, but she was aware that it came out nothing like she intended.

“It likely wasn’t that cruel William,” Karl offered in apology, “You simply had alienated most of your family and friends, Carmilla has people who love her. You were simply easier to scoop up and vanish without question or interference.”

Carmilla watched William closely in the moment, the way his face twitched and ticked as he tried to keep his smug mask of indifference from slipping. Carmilla was actually starting to feel sorry for him. Which felt almost as squicky as the moment she had began to understand Danny Lawrence.

“So, what now?” Carmilla asked.

“We have to figure out how to get you out of here.” Her father stated simply. “The Major won’t have any qualms about killing any of us once the serum is ready.”

“How long do we have?” William asked.

Karl frowned, “Not long, with Carmilla here now it won’t be long until I have what I need to synthesise the first test batch.”

William suddenly had an idea, “Carmilla, have you upgraded your computer systems in the house in the last year?”

Carmilla looked at him blankly and shrugged in response.

William sighed, for all her brains she really was imbecilic sometimes. He just had to hope that the secure server he had hacked last year was still operational and had the same vulnerabilities,

“Do you have access to a computer?” he turned and asked Karl.

“I do,” Karl nodded, “but I’m afraid I’m not great with them.” He gave an apologetic smile.

“Fucking Boomers,” Will shook his head in dismay, “Bring me paper and pen next time you come and I’ll write full instructions on how to get a message to LaFontaine and Perry. Hopefully, it’ll work.”

#

The next morning, Laura woke slightly disorientated. For a moment she could smell Carmilla and the events of the last two months seemed lost to her, but then she remembered. All at once her heart ached and her chest grew tight. It felt like a weight was pressing down on her, holding her in place on the sofa. Laura took a deep breath, the weight on her chest felt far too real to just be heartache. Laura cautiously blinked her eyes open and two small yellow eyes blinked back. Laura smiled,

“Hey Pantera,” Laura whispered, Carmilla’s little black cat was curled up and purring lazily on her chest, “thank you for being my protector through the night.” Laura found _the_ spot at the base of the cat’s right ear and chuckled as she scratched and Pantera's purrs kicked up a notch, “Carm would be proud.”

Laura sat up slowly, a disgruntled Pantera hopping off her chest and stretching languidly on the rug in front of the sofa. Now that Laura had stopped for ten minutes and rested, she ached from head to toe. Even her teeth ached. Although, she supposed getting punched in the mouth would do that for you. Laura touched her stitched lip carefully and tried to assess the damage.

The grandfather clock in the hall chimed twelve, hell, Laura had slept longer than she thought she would. Tell the truth she was a little peeved that LaFontaine and Perry had let her. Laura padded to the nearest bathroom to relieve herself. She flushed and began to wash her hands before splashing some cold water carefully on her bruised face. Laura looked up into the mirror cautiously and took a long, hard look at herself. Christ, she was a fudging mess. Carmilla would be beside herself if she was home. Laura left the bathroom and gave a yawning stretch in the hallway. She sniffed once, then twice before starting to follow her nose to the kitchen, something smelled amazing.

“Oh good, you’re up,” Perry handed Laura a Danish pastry and a cup of coffee, cream, four sugars, just how she liked it, “You look a good sight better for getting some rest.”

“Thanks, Perr’.” Laura took a bite of the Danish and eyes went wide in wonder, “Mmmf, this is really good.”

“Don’t talk with your mouthful,” Perry chided half serious, “Everyone is downstairs. They’ll be happy to see you up and about.”

Laura wondered exactly who everyone was as she let Perry steer her into the hallway and towards the ‘magic’ bookcase. Carmilla hated when Laura called it that. She smiled into her coffee cup at the memory as she took a sip.

After the bookcase slid to the side, Perry motioned for Laura to go ahead,

“You’re not coming?” Laura asked stepping on to the cold stone steps, she really wished she’d put some socks on.

“I’m making lunch,” Perry smiled, “go on.”

Laura paused, “Seriously though Perry. Thank you. For last night…for everything.”

Perry blushed and disappeared back to the kitchen.

That woman really did contain multitudes Laura mused as she descended into the bunker.

“Afternoon little nerd!”

Laura looked up as she got to the bottom of the stairs. Was that Kirsch waving at her from under the hood of his Chevy? It was. Was he wearing a t-shirt that had ‘Pan-tastic!’ emblazoned across it? He really was wearing the hell out of it. Laura smiled through her confusion and gave him a wave back, were they just telling everyone about Carmilla’s secret now?

“Laura!” Danny jumped up from the bench she had been sat on and hesitated, she didn’t want to fuss over Laura, but she also desperately wanted to find out if she was ok. Seeing the confusion spread across her face, Danny decided to address that first, “We can trust him Laur’.”

Laura nodded in agreement, “I know. I just wasn’t expecting to see him here.”

“Turns out none of us are mechanics,” LaF stuck their head out their workshop and motioned for the two of them to come inside, “turns out we _needed_ a mechanic and Kirsch is a very accomplished tinkerer-er-er.”

Laura smiled at LaFontaine’s sudden appearance, “You had something you wanted to show me?”

“I do,” LaF grinned wildly at Laura, “I mean we do, Danny’s been…oh look I’ll just start at the beginning.”

Laura looked to Danny, confusion creasing her brow again, this time Danny just offered a small shrug and a conspiratorial smile in LaFontaine’s direction as she nudged Laura into their workshop.

“Ta dah!” LaF stepped to the side and gave Laura a better look at the various pieces of clothing spread out across their work bench.

“Is that…?” Laura trailed off as she stepped forward and reached out to run her finger across the dark grey leather jacket that was laid out on top of a pair of green trousers. A blue hood and mask much like the black one Carmilla wore sat at the side.

LaF looked to Danny and gave her a small thumbs up, it seemed Laura liked what she saw, “Yep! It’s your very own Luna suit.” LaF paused and thought for a moment, “Well, it’s not a Luna suit, you’re not Luna…it’s a Laura suit I guess.”

“LaF,” Laura couldn’t believe that they had gone to this trouble, “this is amazing.”

"Hopefully these will fit you," LaFontaine said holding up a pair of black biker boots, "Carmilla never wanted them for some reason."

"They will," Laura confirmed, "again this is ah-mazing."

“Well, if you’re going to take over for Carmilla until she’s home,” LaF threw an arm round Laura’s shoulders and squeezed. “I want you as well protected as she usually is.”

“These pants aren’t leather though.” Laura joked as she laid her head on LaFontaine’s shoulder.

Danny barked a laugh, “Hollis, only Carmilla can pull off those pants.”

Laura sat down her half-finished coffee, slipped off her hoodie and reached for the leather jacket. She was desperate to try it on. She zipped it up and gave a few test punches into the air, revelling in how well it fit

“Laura, think fast,” Danny tossed Laura her bat, grinning as she caught it without incident, “Show her LaF.” Danny instructed.

“May I have the bat?” LaFontaine asked holding their hands out, palm up.

Laura handed the bat over.

“Now turn around.”

Laura turned back around so she was facing Danny, her back to LaFontaine. She felt LaFontaine slide bat against the back of her jacket,

“Bat holster!” Danny yelled triumphantly.

Laura reached behind her and felt for the handle of her baseball bat. She pulled the bat out swiftly and then re-holstered it, “Wow, that’s cool.”

“Oh, you ain’t seen nothing yet, kid.” LaFontaine said laughing.

“Wait, so if this is all for me?” Laura said pointing at her gear, “Who does that belong to?” Laura pointed at another not Luna suit laid out on the other side of the bench. It consisted of a brown sleeveless leather jacket and a black short sleeved compression shirt. It came with a red hood and mask. The suit was finished with black trousers and black calf height boots.

“It’s mine,” Danny confirmed cautiously, “I...”

“Tell her,” LaFontaine said supportively, giving Danny a friendly nudge. They had always been fond of Danny when she was a child. A conspiracy of gingers was what Carmilla had called it whenever LaFontaine and Perry would dote on young Danny Lawrence. LaFontaine was glad that Danny was spending more time at the house again. It made them feel like the family was becoming more whole.

“I’ve been thinking a lot,” Danny scratched the back of her neck self-consciously, “rereading your recent series of articles.”

“Danny I…” Laura started to attempt an apology for pushing Danny so hard. She should know better than anyone that people have to come to things in their own time.

“Wait,” Danny held her hand up to silence Laura, “let me get this out.”

Laura nodded for her to go ahead.

“What you said that night, not long after Carmilla went missing, it’s been gnawing at me,” Danny began to pace a little as she spoke, “You were right. You _are_ right. The goal should be preventing crimes, not reacting to them or instigating more of them.”

A loud clatter from the other side of the bunker drew everyone’s attention, “Sorry dudes,” Kirsch gave them a broad smile and a small wave, “dropped my wrench.”

“It’s just…” Danny lost her momentum as she tried to pick up her train of thought after the interruption, “...my father was a cop. My grandpa was a cop. I know I have some unlearning to do but I can’t watch you kill yourself out there,” Danny shrugged, “So, I’m going to help you…not kill yourself”

“Oh, Carmilla is going to love this.” Laura said with a small teasing smile. She stepped forward and pulled Danny into a big hug, “Sorry for being a headstrong moron.” She whispered so only Danny could hear.

“Me too Hollis,” Danny whispered back, she gave Laura a squeeze and drew back from the hug, “Carmilla is going to be an asshole about this.”

LaFontaine could feel tears prickling at the corners of their eyes. If Carmilla had been there she would have chided them for being sentimental, “So,” LaF clapped their hands together, “my favourite part! Weapons!”

LaFontaine led them out of their workshop and over to a makeshift target range that Laura was pretty sure hadn’t been there the last time she’d been down in the bunker,

“This,” LaF said almost skipping delightedly over to a table and picking up what looked like a suped up sawn off shotgun, “is the lil’ stubby. A concussive energy weapon that fires a blast strong enough to knock a bunch of people on their ass, but not blow holes in them.”

Laura looked to Danny, a little concerned by the glint in LaFontaine’s eye,

“Kirsch made us watch Mad Max a couple of weeks ago.” Danny offered by way of explanation.

“I’m just here for the gasoline!” Kirsch hollered, his head still buried under the hood of his car.

“That boy has remarkable hearing,” LaF said sounding genuinely impressed. “Anyway,” They held the gun up for Laura to take a better look, “cock the hammer and the gun powers up.” They pointed at a little gauge on the side of the gun, “when this flashes green, pull the trigger and shoot.”

Laura took the gun when LaFontaine offered it. She had to admit, the weight felt good in her hand.

“It’s powerful,” LaFontaine cautioned, “but it only has five blasts in it before it needs recharged.”

“Does it come with some super high-tech charging station?” Danny asked, impressed with the way LaFontaine’s brain had the ability to make ridiculous sounding ideas become a reality.

LaFontaine looked at Danny as if she was a little silly, “No, it charges with a regular USB cable.”

Laura snickered, “Can I try it?”

“Well I didn’t haul all those mannequins down here for nothing,” LaF threw a thumb over their shoulder at the motley assortment of mannequins at the end of their makeshift target range.

Laura tested the weight of the gun in her hand again. When she felt like she had a comfortable grip, she stepped up to the end of the range and planted her feet shoulder width apart. It had been a while since she fired a gun of any kind. Laura cocked the trigger with her thumb and heard the gun give a slight whine as it powered up. When the gauge turned green, she pulled the trigger and stumbled back.

The three of them watched on wide eyed as the blast ripped down the range and knocked all the mannequins flying like bowling pins,

“Yeah!” LaFontaine hollered as they jumped up and down, “It’s a little indiscriminate in its blast radius and kicks like a mule when you fire it, but isn’t it fun?!” They suddenly remembered their age and their bad back when they felt a twinge shoot up their spine.

“Careful there old timer,” Danny laughed as they watched LaFontaine grab their lower back and wheeze a little, “that is and impressive weapon, but what have you got for me?”

LaF walked gingerly over to the table and handed Danny a sleek, light weight, black recurve bow, “Set up to the specs you gave me.” They said, still rubbing at their back.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Danny asked.

“Oh, the arrows!” LaFontaine scuttled back to their office and returned with a black, light weight box that looked more like a backpack than a traditional quiver. It was stuffed full of arrows with bright coloured fletching.

Danny pulled a blue fletched arrow from the quiver and looked at the tip of it curiously, “These look like you may have LaFontaine’d them.”

Laura watched on amused. Of course they weren’t just regular arrows. It wouldn’t be a LaFon-gadget if it was just a regular arrow.

“So, what do they do genius?” Danny asked, slightly terrified to even notch one in her bow.

“Blue fletched arrows are electric, tase your target on impact,” LaFontaine started, “pink fletching are bolo arrows, a little timed explosion causes a rope and ball to set loose from the end of the arrow upon firing, allowing you to tangle an enemy up and white…” LaFontaine trailed off a little before mumbling quietly, “are explosive.”

“LaF,” Laura warned, “how explosive?”

LaFontaine held their hands up in defence, “Not enough to kill anyone. Just enough to be fun.”

Laura was about to ask Danny to fire one of the explosive ones so they could judge how _fun_ they were when Perry came rushing down into the bunker,

“You have to turn the news on,” Perry gasped as she tried to catch her breath, “It’s that horrible man. Victor Zsasz. He’s at Styria Prep and is holding those poor children hostage.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT?! The serial killer has finally reared his head and he’s holding some of the girls at their old alma mater hostage? Whatever will Laura and Danny do? I suppose it’s a good a time as any to try their new suits, huh? Come on back next time for a good ol’ action packed chapter. As always, thank you for reading, click subscribe and bookmark to stay up to date with the thing and if you wanna yell at me in the comments, I do mostly yell back!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and Danny finally get to shake down Victor Zsasz and try out some of their new LaFon-gadgets, whilst Carmilla has a dream and William has time to think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for this chapter: Mentions of blood. Hostage situation. Threat of violence, actual violence. There’s a fair amount of crash, bang, wallop violence in this chapter (inspired by Batman #493) and a couple of gruesome injuries. Tread carefully if that stuff makes you a bit queasy. There is also some tooth rotting fluff in this chapter, so please mind your teeth for cavities.

Laura stomped her foot on the gas and drove hell for leather towards Styria Prep School. Danny sat in the passenger seat, sulking that she’d lost the impromptu best 3 out of 5 rock, paper, scissors game that granted Laura permission to drive Kirsch’s Chevy. Since neither of them could ride a motorcycle and there was literally only one bike, it would seem Kirsch’s car was now their default mode of transportation. He’d been very gracious about it, happy that he could help the crimefighting hotties get to where they needed to be. Before leaving, Laura and Danny had managed to get him to crimefighters full stop with little to no threat of violence. It turned out kisses from Danny were a great education tool, which btw from Laura’s perspective? Eew. Were her and Carmilla this insufferably cute with their PDA’s?

Danny fiddled with her police scanner trying to pick up the channel the cops at their old school were using. Bits and pieces of information about the hostage situation crackled through as she scanned. That creep Zsasz was holed up with the hostages in the library. The SCPD were camped outside the front of the school waiting for the opportunity to open negotiations. Unlucky for Zsasz, Laura and Danny knew that school better than any cop could hope to, they knew all the secret ways in and out of the main building and surrounding grounds and they didn’t have to wait or wade through protocol before entering.

“Old service access road round the back of the hill?” Danny suggested, thinking out loud.

Laura nodded, agreeing with Danny’s idea, “The front will be mobbed with SCPD. They won’t be thinking about that old road or covering it likely.”

“Plus, we can stash the car behind the field maintenance shed. It’ll be out of sight there.” Danny pulled her hood up and adjusted the red leather bracer on her left arm. She wondered if Laura was as nervous as she was and just hiding it well. They’d been to many hostage situations together over the years, but something about this felt different. The only rules they were bound by whilst under their hoods were the ones they made themselves. The weight of that revelation felt heavy to Danny, she briefly wondered what Carmilla thought about the responsibility.

**Meanwhile across town at Styria Preparatory School…**

“You see the marks?” Zsasz sneered as he ripped his shirt open and tossed it to the side, “A map of all the zombies I’ve set free. One little slash, for each of the big ones I’ve made.” He laughed as he pretended to draw his knife across his throat.

The group of girls held hostage huddled in a corner and tried to avoid eye contact. Some of them sobbed, some of them whimpered and others couldn’t tear their eyes away from the horrific collection of scars that littered Victor Szasz’s torso.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Zsasz said as he twirled his knife dramatically, “how many of us will become part of him?” Victor licked his lips obscenely, “Well, if it’s up to me? All of you.” He jumped forward in an attempt to scare them. Zsasz cackled as the girls squealed and shook more violently. The build-up, the ratcheting of their fear, it was almost as delicious as when he got to carve the gash across their throats that would set them free.

**Meanwhile, up a tree…**

“It doesn’t look like the police have attempted to breach the building yet.” Laura advised as she peered through a pair of binoculars.

“What’re they waiting for?” Danny muttered as she took Laura’s hand and helped her jump down from her vantage point.

“The one qualified person to do hostage negotiation in the city? Hope they’re not on vacation this time,” Laura landed back on solid ground and shrugged, “You heard the chatter on the scanner. He has them holed up in the library.” She pointed at a window on the second floor, “I say you go in through that classroom and through the front door of the library.”

“Let me guess, you’re going to come in from the picture window that faces the main doors so that we have him covered from both sides.” Danny frowned, “Is there any way I can ask you to climb in the window safely and not smash through it like I know Karnstein would?”

Laura tried not to laugh at at Danny’s reaction, “Do you want to go through the window?”

“I don’t want either of us to go through the window.” Danny stated emphatically, “The less damage done to the building and to us, the better.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Laura hissed impatiently, “to save a few hostages you have to break a few windows.”

Danny held her hands up in surrender, “Ok, ok, I know. Just...be careful?”

“Always.” Laura said with a smile. It felt a little funny not being the one telling Carmilla to be careful. Carmilla’s customary wink didn’t feel quite right in the situation, so Laura gave Danny a small, two fingered salute and led them towards the building.

**Meanwhile back in the library…**

Zsasz cocked his head to the side, sure he had heard the something. Those sneaky little police officers must be making their way towards the library,

“Unfortunately, it would appear that Styria’s finest are getting antsy and our time here is getting short.” Victor stalked towards the huddled group of girls, “Time to see how many zombies I can free before they burst through that door guns blazing!”

Zsasz lunged and grabbed the girl closest to the front of the group. Knowing her time on earth was coming to an end, she began to sob out the Lord’s Prayer,

“Shut up, it’s time to—"

Danny kicked open the door to the library, her bow drawn, “Let her go asshole!”

“Oh. Oh, now who is this?” Zsasz asked, his grip still firm round the scared girl’s neck, “I thought I sent Styria City’s masked crusader on a one-way trip.”

“I said let her go.” Danny repeated through gritted teeth. She could feel nervous sweat start to pool at her hairline and threaten to drip down her forehead and into her eyes. Shit, she had no idea how Carmilla did this all the time. Confronting criminals with a badge and a gun was one thing, this somehow felt more…intimate. More dangerous. She had to concentrate and not let her hands shake as adrenaline began to course through her body.

“You did ask me to let her go.” Zsasz mockingly confirmed, “But you can’t shoot me. You shoot me and my hand slips and oops! The zombie dies anyway!”

Danny stopped and thought for a minute. The dirtbag was right. Come on Hollis, where are you? “Ok,” Danny said trying to buy time, “let her go and take me instead. Then you’ve killed two vigilantes.”

Danny noted the twitch in Zsasz’s face. A tell if she ever had seen one. Good. He definitely hadn’t killed Carmilla, so at least there was a chance she was still alive.

“Very noble of you.” Zsasz said flippantly, he was getting bored. He just wanted to kill a zombie, it didn’t matter who. The masked zombie would do. “Drop the bow and on your knees!” He shoved the student he had a hold of back towards her cowering friends.

Danny did as she was told, raising her hands and placing them upon her head. Just as Zsasz started to leer above her, his knife poised and ready to strike, Laura came crashing through the window in a hail of glass and splintered wood.

Laura landed and rolled to her feet, “You’re not spilling any blood here tonight Zsasz!”

Zsasz looked between the red hooded zombie and the blue hooded zombie. He was trapped between them and with the little zombies huddled in the far away corner, there was no more leverage. Oh, this wouldn’t do. He had made a terrible mistake. Zsasz lunged with his knife at the blue hooded zombie, might as well use his size to his advantage and try and take the smaller of the two out first.

“Danny, I got this piece of shit, get the girls outta here.” Laura yelled as she parried Zsasz’s careless lunge. She grabbed him by the wrist and swung him face first into the wall behind her.

Danny hesitated, the last thing she wanted to do was leave Laura alone with Zsasz, but Laura was right, someone needed to lead the terrified hostages out of there. Danny approached the girls,

“Are any of you hurt?” she asked softly. A sea of frightened faces shook their heads no. “Ok, then,” Danny said a little more firmly and held out her hand, “You take my hand,” she said the girl nearest her, “and everyone else hold on to the person in front of you. We’re going to get out of here.” Danny carefully led the group of students past the scuffle of the fight and out the main library door.

Laura bounced on the balls of her feet and took a moment to regroup, Zsasz was getting tired, sloppier and more desperate. Laura took a step back and bumped into something. She turned to make sure it wasn’t a wayward student, thankfully it was just a large teaching globe.

Sensing the little blue hooded zombies’ distraction, Zsasz licked his lips and went for the kill. He launched his knife from his hand in a deadly spinning arc and hoped his aim was true.

Laura caught the glint of something hurtling towards her out the corner of her eye. Instinct took over and she snatched up the globe, holding it defensively in front of her chest and face. The globe vibrated in Laura’s hands as something struck it. Peering round, she saw Zsasz’s knife sticking out the front. Laura smirked, he’d rendered himself defenseless. With all her might she tossed the globe at Zsasz, knocking him flat on his ass,

“Where’s Luna? What did you do with her?” Laura demanded, watching as a disorientated Zsasz rolled on to his front and struggled to get off the ground from his prone position.

Zsasz breathed hard and wheezed out a taunting laugh. He began to crawl towards the exit, “Your friend is dead, I left her hanging in plain sight for you to find.”

Laura launched herself into the air and came down on Zsasz hard, her fist crashing into the back of his head, “Liar! You know as well as I do that wasn’t Luna! Where is she?” Laura grabbed him by the back of his hair and smashed his skull off the wooden floor of the library, “Where is she?” 

Zsasz continued to cackle and cackle. His laugh getting increasingly more wet and gurgling as Laura smashed his skull repeatedly off the ground.

“Enough!” Danny cried as she ran back in the library, “He’s no good to us dead.”

Laura froze as the sound of Danny’s voice cut through the wave of rage she was drowning under. Oh crap, what had she done? Her hands were shaking and covered in blood. She was just so angry and he knew who took Carmilla and he was somehow _still_ laughing.

“He’s no good to us dead.” Danny repeated softer as she approached Laura slowly.

“I like this one.” Zsasz croaked as Laura climbed off him, “Let me go and I’ll tell you where she is.”

“What?” Danny looked to Laura alarmed, it looked like she was actually considering the lunatic’s proposition, “No, no we can’t.”

“Yes, we can.” Laura looked pointedly at Danny and hoped to all hell she was still adept at reading Laura’s mind. Of course, they weren’t actually going to let him go, but they could let him think they were.

“Fine,” Danny sighed, picking up Laura’s signal, she grabbed Zsasz by the back of his trousers and hauled him to his feet, “Tell us where Luna is and we’ll let you go.”

“I need assurances first.” Zsasz ran his tongue gently round his mouth, he was definitely missing a few teeth.

Danny kept a firm grip on the waistband of Zsasz’s trousers. The thought of giving him a wedgie really appealed to her right about now, “We’ll get you out the building and away from the SCPD who are about to come marching in here and you’ll tell us where Luna is. How about that?”

Zsasz nodded his agreement, that was good enough he supposed.

Laura unholstered the lil’ stubby and dug it into the back of Zsasz’s shoulder blades, “Move.” she growled.

Ten minutes and two secret passage ways later, the three of them stood in the middle of the Styria Prep playing fields

Zsasz cackled and spat blood into the grass, “I traded Luna for infamy.” Zsasz pointed at himself, “I’m the one who killed the Styria City vigilante.”

“Except you didn’t,” Laura said, getting bored and anxious, “so whatever little mark you made to represent it doesn’t mean anything. Where is Luna?”

“Those little tin soldiers took her away in their whirly bird.” Zsasz said as he turned and began a running limp across the playing field, “you zombies will never find your little zombie friend.” He cried over his shoulder as he fled.

That was it? That was all he was giving them. Some cryptic bullcrap?

“You got this?” Laura asked Danny casually, she turned and saw Danny already had a pink fletched arrow notched in her bow.

“Way ahead of you Hollis,” Danny pulled the bowstring back and watched as Zsasz continued to make his desperate and slightly pathetic escape. She let him get just far enough to think he maybe had a chance of getting away when she let the bow release.

The pink fletched arrow zipped through the air, the bolo ejecting from the arrow tip just as LaFontaine said it would. The rope wrapped itself snuggly round Zsasz’s ankles and he fell to the ground with a pretty comedic _wuargh_. Laura winced a little as he hit the grass with a sickening thud.

“So,” Danny started as they crossed the playing field to collect their quarry, “have you thought of a name for yourself? Because I almost yelled your actual name a million times in there.”

Laura shrugged, “Nothing yet. You?”

“I was thinking Red Arrow.” Danny said proudly.

Laura scrunched her nose up, “Bit too close to Green Arrow surely, and if we’re naming ourselves after our weapons that would make me Lil’ Stubby?”

Danny burst out laughing, “Well, I mean, you are only 5’2”.”

“Shut up Danny.” Laura said, fuming she’d even set herself up for that one, “None of your arrows are even red.”

“Ok, ok, fair point,” Danny continued to chuckle, “we’ll keep workshopping.”

Laura held her fist out to Danny, "Hey, it's kinda nice working together again."

"Sure is Hollis," Danny bumped Laura's fist before stopping to look down at a prone Victor Zsasz, "guess we better deliver this guy since we wrapped him up so nice. 

#

William lay on the floor on his stomach, his chin resting on his hands. He lay peering intently through the shared wall of his and Carmilla’s cell, watching carefully over his sister. Watching to ensure her chest was still rising and falling. Watching to make sure she was still alive. It had been…what seemed like a while since William had shown Karl in simple, very simple language, how to contact LaFontaine and Perry. They hadn’t seen nor heard from him since. Had he got the message out? Had he been caught?

Story Time with Papa Karnstein had been replaced with Story Time with Carmilla. She took the time to fill in some blanks for William, tell him what she knew of her parent’s tenure with Project Frey. How her father had begged to keep him, how her mother had actually been the one to insist they give him away. William supposed, if nothing else, these stories helped pass the time. Time, time, time. William had had nothing but time in the last year. Time to think about every awful, fucked up thing he’d done in his life. Time to think how he could have approached his life differently.

They had come and taken Carmilla again that morning. They had brought her back unconscious again. William frowned, they had been taking Carmilla more and more and him less and less. He couldn’t help but wonder if it was because they had gotten all they could from him or if it was because she was so willfully insolent. William smirked. There had been a wonderful moment recently where the Major had actually graced them with a visit, mostly to pontificate and read bible verses. To pace around in front of their cells like the peacocking asshole he was. Carmilla had told the Major to shove Revelations up his ass and stared at him so violently, William was sure he was going to burst into flames. He’d been a little disappointed when he hadn’t truth be told. Pyrokinesis would have been a rad side effect of being a fucked-up military test tube baby.

It had occurred to William that Carmilla may have been antagonising the Major deliberately. Pulling focus entirely on to her. William had been there longer, been tested on longer. He was getting visibly weaker, he knew that. His sister was prone to fits of noble heroic crap, was it for his benefit this time? William sat up as he saw Carmilla start to stir,

“Are you watching me sleep you creep?” Carmilla groaned as she cracked an eye open.

“I’m watching you drool all over the floor.” William clarified.

“Why am I on the floor?” Carmilla moaned as she rolled on to her back and tried to adjust to being conscious again.

“It’s where they left you.” He replied simply.

“Assholes.” Carmilla muttered as she shielded her eyes from the bright, unnatural light that lit their cells.

William smiled, glad she was finally awake, “You ok?”

“Careful William, that almost sounded like concern.” Carmilla cautioned. It wouldn’t do either of them any good to become fond of one another, now would it?

“Will. Let’s try Will. I’m so sick of hearing everyone saying _William_.” He sighed, “Will is a lot harder to drip contempt into.”

Carmilla smirked and pushed herself into a sitting position, “I’m sure I can manage, _Will_.”

“Where were you just now?” Will asked, changing the subject as he turned his back to Carmilla and settled against their shared cell wall. They had been doing this a lot lately, sitting back to back against that wall. It seemed the easiest way to communicate. Loath to admit it, Will found it somewhat of a comfort.

Carmilla shuffled across the floor and mirrored his position. Where was she? A place she wishes she could have stayed. With Laura. Laura, Laura, Laura. Whilst unconscious, Carmilla had been reliving the night they came out publicly as a couple. What a perfect night it had been. With Laura working for the Gazette and being able to somewhat steer the flow of information and theories regarding Luna, Carmilla was able to start transitioning away from the party girl persona she presented the world. It had been growing weary and she was sick of acting like such an inconsiderate, arrogant imbecile most of the time in public. It was time to show everyone something closer to who she really was. Most of all though, she was sick of sneaking around with Laura when all she wanted to do was shout from the freaking-frilly rooftops how in love she was. Laura deserved it, hell she deserved it herself.

So, a plan was hatched. Carmilla would spend the day breaking ground on the new community outreach center (which she had fully funded) and then later in the evening attend the annual Styria City Press awards as Laura’s date. Carmilla had very much insisted that they came out somewhere where she was Laura’s date and not the other way round. In no way did she want Laura tossed in and labelled as her latest conquest or arm candy. If she was Laura’s date, there would be no misunderstanding of just what was going on exactly.

“Sweetheart, this is ridiculous,” Carmilla remembered pleading with Laura 24 hrs before their big plan was to be set in motion, “we aren’t getting married, surely you can come over tonight?” Carmilla had border line whined. If she had known she wasn’t going to see Laura again until tomorrow, she would have kissed her more soundly that afternoon when they had parted ways.

Laura had laughed on the other end of the phone. That hesitant half-hearted laugh that meant her resolve wasn’t as strong as she liked to think it was where a pleading Carmilla was concerned,

“You’ll find a way to entertain yourself, I’m sure.”

The straight up salacious tone to Laura’s simple response had actually made Carmilla whine, “You’re killing me, Hollis.”

“Come on Carm, play along,” Laura said sweetly, “you have a long day tomorrow and I want picked up like a proper date—"

“We’ve been on many of those, Cutie.” Carmilla interrupted.

“Yeah but this is our first _public_ date,” Laura stressed, “I don’t want to get ready with you. I want us to see each other for the first time when you come and collect me in that ridiculous limousine you actually own. Who owns a limousine Carm?”

Carmilla had smiled. Laura wanted romance and romance was practically Carmilla’s middle name. It had never not been part of the plan, she had just hoped a last-minute booty call wasn’t completely out of the question.

Ever the gentle-person, however, she acquiesced. No booty call. Carmilla would pick Laura up from her apartment at 6 pm sharp the next day. Laura had tried to argue 6pm was extremely early, but all Carmilla had replied was, “Trust me Cutie.”

6 pm came and Carmilla found herself stood outside Laura’s apartment complex. She was trying her best to look casual as she leaned against her limousine in a dark blue tuxedo. Carmilla’s breath had been stolen when Laura opened the lobby door and stepped out wearing an off the shoulder dark blue evening dress that Carmilla had had couriered to her earlier in the day. Before she could even utter a ‘Hey’ or think of an appropriate compliment to greet her beautiful girlfriend, Laura had said,

“Carm, this dress is too much. It’s gorgeous, but it must have cost a fortune.”

Carmilla smiled, “You look as stunning as I’d imagined, Cutie.” She kissed Laura chastely on the cheek, “Which makes it worth every penny. I just wanted us to match. We can auction the dress off and donate the proceeds when you inevitably leave it on my bedroom floor later.”

Laura had stepped back just slightly, not too far, but far enough to make sure Carmilla could take in the look on her face, the look that said ‘woah, there’, “Pretty sure of yourself champ, what makes you think there’s an inevitability to the end of this date?”

Before Carmilla could lean in and whisper in Laura’s ear just exactly why it was inevitable, the driver’s window on the limousine gave an electric whirr announcing its descent,

“You kids look amazing!” LaFontaine proclaimed as they lent out the window. Perry’s head popped out beside LaF’s shortly after, trying to get a good look.

Carmilla sighed good naturedly at the interruption as Laura gave LaF and Perry a little wave, “Quick, get in the car before Perry gets her camera,” She held the door to the limo open for Laura.

“You have all these resources at your disposal and you still make Lafontaine and Perry drive you around,” Laura teased as she stepped into the car.

“I don’t make those two do anything and you know it Cupcake,” Carmilla started as she stepped in behind her, “they _insisted_ on driving us on our first public date.”

Laura laughed as she watched Carmilla ensure the lock was on the divider between the front and back of the limo. Just to avoid any further interruptions for the time being. Accepting the glass of champagne Carmilla handed her, Laura asked,

“So why pick me up so early, Lady killer?”

Carmilla smirked at the nickname, her stomach always did a funny little flip flop when Laura used it, “Well, as a seasoned veteran of these types of events I can tell you that the food is notoriously terrible, Sweetheart. We all know how you get when you’re hangry.”

“Oh, we do, do we?” Laura had asked, smiling as she closed the small gap between them.

“Uh huh,” Carmilla replied smirking, she glanced briefly at Laura’s lips before meeting them with her own. Carmilla let out a satisfied sigh as their lips moved slowly against each other. She had been thinking about kissing Laura since the last time she had kissed Laura 24 hours previous. Laura’s free hand reached to tangle itself in Carmilla’s hair, tugging slightly. Carmilla let her tongue graze Laura’s bottom lip, she let out a quiet moan as Laura’s grip in her hair tightened again.

Carmilla felt the car slow and pulled back just enough to detach their lips, resting her forehead against Laura’s. She caught her breath and smirked lazily, “If we let this go any further Sweetheart, we won’t make it to your first awards show and LaF and Perry are going to be really mad at us on several levels.”

Laura giggled, “Are we here already?” She turned away from Carmilla and peered out the window, “Oh, you really pushed the boat out this time, Karnstein.” Laura laughed as she realised they were at her favourite diner at the end of her block.

“Do you want to go to some fancy restaurant where the portions are never satisfactory or do you want to eat greasy fries and a burger?”

It turned out, as Carmilla had predicted, Laura did in fact want some greasy fries and a burger. Carmilla knew she’d nailed it when she opened the door to the diner and heard Laura’s small gasp of wonderment when she realised the place had been reserved just for them, a dancefloor cleared at the back of the dinner and a string quartet set up to the side,

“If all eyes are going to be on us later, Cutie, I wanted my eyes to be the only ones on you for a little while.”

Carmilla had assured Laura that she had not only paid for their dinner, but all the regular checks that would have been created that night had been covered too. All the food that would go to waste was to be donated to the local homeless shelter. The hard-working staff could take the night off once they had gone. 

Thankful that she was wearing a suit and could remove the jacket, roll up her shirtsleeves, Carmilla found it was an absolute joy to watch Laura try and eat without messing up her pretty dress. Somehow, she managed though, even if Carmilla had mercilessly teased her for the entirety of dinner about how it was the daintiest she had ever seen Laura eat.

“Don’t you think the string quartet was a bit much, Carm?” Laura had asked after swallowing the last bite of her burger.

Carmilla shrugged and wiped her hands on her napkin before standing. She bowed a little dramatically and held her hand out to Laura, “May I have this dance?”

Laura giggled and felt herself flush a little under Carmilla’s gaze. She slid out from their booth and accepted Carmilla’s hand. Laura let out another little surprised gasp as Carmilla pulled her to her, ensuring they were chest to chest. The air was electric as the quartet struck up a waltz.

“Do you remember how?” Carmilla asked quietly.

Laura sighed as she let her head fall against Carmilla’s shoulder and closed her eyes, “I think those dance classes from high school are part of my muscle memory at this point.”

Carmilla chuckled and led them round the small space that had been cleared to create the dance floor. Laura didn’t even have to think about the steps, she was content to let Carmilla lead, this time, enjoying being swept round the dance floor in Carmilla’s strong and loving arms. As Carmilla twirled Laura away from her and back against her chest, she saw LaFontaine wave through the front window of the diner,

“Why, I do believe it’s time to get you to your first awards show, Lois Lane.” Carmilla said, placing a kiss to Laura’s temple.

So, off they had gone to make their public debut. To dance more, to drink more, for Laura to inevitably leave that beautiful dress on Carmilla’s bedroom floor.

She couldn’t tell Will any of that though, it was a memory just for her. So instead Carmilla asked, “Was I mumbling again?”

“I believe your exact words were, _‘I have been in love with no one, and never shall,’_ ” Will paused and gave a dramatic and teasing sigh, " _’unless it should be with you_ ’."

Carmilla blushed and let her head fall back against the cell wall. Goddess, she’d said that out loud for Will to hear. Carmilla shook her head and laughed a little.

“Nice visit?” Will asked genuinely when Carmilla didn’t say anything else.

“Shut up.” She mumbled defensively, still blushing.

“You really love her, don’t you?”

There was something in Will’s tone that suggested feeling Carmilla hadn’t known he was capable of,

“If her dear heart is wounded, my wild heart bleeds.” Carmilla sighed.

Will laughed, “Wow, is that the drugs in your system still talking?”

“She’s more intoxicating than any drug they may poison us with in here.” Carmilla hesitated, unsure whether to showing such vulnerability round Will was a good idea, “I miss her.”

“I know.” Will sympathised, “I loved someone like that once. His name was J.P. Armitage. I loved him so wholly we almost felt like one person.”

“Christ, Will. The name you used in Sty—"

“‘milla?” Will interrupted. He couldn’t talk about that. Not now. Not yet. That was a story for another time.

“Yeah?” Carmilla said softly, the shortening of her name and the tremble in Will’s voice tugged at her heartstrings.

“I am sorry, you know.” Will fumbled for the right words, “For what I did, for what I put you all through.”

“I know.” She really did. Carmilla had gotten to know her brother quite well in the last few weeks and this was the sincerest she’d ever heard him.

“Well aren’t we the model of a fucked-up family?” Will joked awkwardly. He wanted to turn round, to read Carmilla’s expression, but he was too scared.

“Sometimes, Will,” Carmilla paused and exhaled, “you have to live with what you’ve done, in order to live.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww heck. I’m a benevolent fic author, I couldn’t keep Carmilla and Laura apart for almost ALL of this fic. Gotta appreciate a flashback huh? And is this Carmilla and Will starting to form a bond? Sure looks like it huh? Come back next time for what I can only describe as; A Day in the Life of Wilson Kirsch and Other Happenings. Clicky clicky on the subscribe and bookmark buttons to keep up with the thing and thank you heaps to all of you who have commented and left kudos. I appreciates you all. Happy Halloween, I hope whatever you’re doing you stay safe and socially distanced and you wear a gosh darn mask!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LaFontaine and Perry get a rather fortuitous message, Carmilla attempts to hang in there – literally and we spend a little time in the brain of Wilson Kirsch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for this chapter: You know the score by now. Carmilla is in a hostage situation and frankly, it’s not getting any friendlier. Mentions of blood and getting a lil beat up. 
> 
> Hello, hi, what’s up? I know that global news is a complete shit show at the moment. Hopefully this can offer a port in a storm and some minor entertainment. Shall we? Let’s…

LaFontaine sat back from their computer screen, cracked their knuckles and rubbed their eyes. It was late and they were tired, but they knew there wasn’t any point in retiring for the night. The few hours they ever managed to sleep as it was were now spent tossing and turning, worrying about Carmilla. LaFontaine briefly wondered if Carmilla would be amenable to them implanting her with some sort of tracker at some point. Much like how the tracker in the bracelet worked, but something that couldn’t be lost or taken from her because it was part of her. LaF could already hear how that conversation was likely to end, with a few choice expletives and a resounding no, but at least if she ever went missing again it would be easier to track her down. LaFontaine frowned, the kid had to be alive. Carmilla had come back from the dead once before. She was too stubborn and too resilient to have let someone actually kill her this time. Surely.

In a half-hearted attempt to avoid the spiralling thoughts of doom they were prone to lately, LaFontaine was currently running some simulations on a few different fuel tank designs for Kirsch’s Chevy, trying to decide which one to have him fabricate and install. Something that would make it more economical and faster. It wasn’t exactly a necessary modification but it kept their hands and their brain busy and if Perry was going to stress clean the entire house for the third time in as many weeks, the least LaFontaine could do was not get in the way. Kicking their feet up on their work bench, LaFontaine watched the simulation tick towards completion. As they watched the percentage bar creep towards 100, LaF worried the skin on the side of their thumb. They gave a short hiss of pain and looked down to see their thumb was red, raw and bleeding slightly. They could already hear Perry scold them, ‘You’re going to worry that thumb to the bone one of these days.’ LaFontaine swung their legs down with a sigh and began digging through a nearby drawer for a band-aid.

A sudden _bedeep_ made LaFontaine pop their head back up and turn their attention back to the computer. They blinked at the screen in confusion. It had suddenly gone black and at the top was a text prompt that simply said,

\\\\\Hello?

LaFontaine blindly reached for the intercom on their desk. When they were met with nothing but fur, they smiled, “Scootch over Pantera,” LaF gave the cat a distracted scratch and nudged her off the intercom. They pressed the button that connected them to the kitchen, “Perr’ do you have a minute?”

The speaker crackled as Perry’s voice floated through in response, “Be right down love.”

“Can you hurry, I think my computer is possessed.” LaFontaine said as they continued to stare at the screen, utterly perplexed. 

\\\\\I’m trying to reach S. LaFontaine and Lola Perry.

\\\\\Is anyone there?

LaFontaine peered suspiciously at the screen. S. LaFontaine? No-one had used their first initial in a long, long time. The fact the person wasn’t dead naming them though maybe meant they were more of a friendly ghost from the past than some sort of terfy foe.

“What’s all this about a haunted computer?” Perry asked as she stepped into LaFontaine’s workshop. Pantera ran in and out of her legs, looking for some attention. Perry bent and gave the cat a friendly scratch on her head.

LaFontaine gestured dramatically at their screen.

“Isn’t that the secure channel you use to communicate with Luna?” Perry asked standing up and stepping closer.

LaF blinked at the screen again, yes, yes it was. They were so on edge and so tired, the thought hadn’t occurred to them that it was the secure channel and not a technological possession, “That doesn’t sound like Carmilla to me though.”

“Have you tried replying?” Perry asked, leaning over LaFontaine and quickly typing,

///This is Lola Perry. How can I help?

LaFontaine looked at Perry incredulously, “I mean, I could have done that. I just didn’t know if it was some sort of trap.”

Perry placed a gentle, calming kiss to the LaFontaine’s temple, “Well let’s just see what happens.”

\\\\\Oh, thank heavens, Lola. I had no idea if I’d screwed this up. Again.

  
\\\\\69.793° N, 108.241° W

  
\\\\\It’s where you’ll find Carmilla and William.

  
\\\\\<attachment>arkblueprints.pdf<attachment>

  
\\\\\Please save the document quickly, I don’t have much time.

  
LaFontaine scrambled for a USB stick, they shakily shoved it into the front of the computer and saved the file. Perry grabbed a pen and scribbled down the co-ordinates.

  
///Saved. Who is this?

  
Perry and LaFontaine both watched the screen expectantly. Perry gave a surprised little gasp as the screen began to flicker and suddenly they were left staring at LaFontaine’s regular desktop.

“Carmilla _and_ William?” LaF muttered as they opened up the usb stick and double clicked on the file they had just saved.

Perry gave an alarmed little peep as what she was seeing on screen started to make sense, “That, that can’t be right, can it? LaFontaine, that can’t be—"

“It’s the ark, Perr’” LaFontaine confirmed, “It actually exists. That mad asshole actually built it.”

“And we have the co-ordinates and blueprints for it.” Perry stated, still a little unsure what was happening was real, “it’s where we’ll find Carmilla and her brother?”

LaFontaine simply nodded as they zoomed in on parts of the pdf, lost already as their brain started to form a multitude of plans.

“This, this can’t be good.” Perry began to pace a little, “If that wretched place actually exists and Carmilla and William are there, then it can only mean one thing.”

“Project Frey Part 2: Genetic Boogaloo?” LaF attempted to joke lamely.

“I think we best get Danny and Laura here.” Perry said, already moving towards LaFontaine’s desk phone to place the calls. She tried her best not to scowl, she knew her person often joked in dire situations.

“I think we best.” LaFontaine agreed.

#

Carmilla huffed against the fabric of the black hood that had been placed over her head and tried her best not to struggle against the restraints locking her hands in front of her body. It was the first time she could recall having been marched somewhere in this hellish facility without being pumped full of some horrific sedative. For that she was thankful. It was refreshing to have a clear head for a while. She wasn’t missing the thumping headaches, dry mouth and overwhelming dread that came with the come down from being sedated, nor the being sedated itself. For the hood, she wasn’t so thankful. It stank of stale sweat and what she could only assume was fear. Which was an odd thing to think, after all what exactly did fear smell like? Apparently, it was a recognisable pheromone—

“Stop.” The lackwit with a gun pointed into the small of her back ordered.

Carmilla’s rambling line of thought was interrupted and she did as she was told, coming to a shuffling halt. She could hear the rattling of metal chain, followed by metal scraping against metal before someone grabbed at her wrists and tugged her arms harshly above her head. A few loud clicks later, Carmilla found herself balanced on the tips of her toes. The cuffs that bound her were biting at the skin of her wrists. Her shoulders were already starting to ache from the strain of holding her body weight, she could feel pressure building in the shoulder she’d dislocated the previous year as it threatened to pop loose again at any moment.

The hood was suddenly ripped from her head and Carmilla found herself blinking against harsh light. As her vision cleared, she looked around. An office. She was in an…office. Well that was a little odd. After the minimalist prison cells and what she could remember of the lab, it felt a little disorientating to be in what was simply...an office. The Major’s office it would appear. He was stood in front of her. Great. Nothing good was going to come from her being brought into _his_ domain.

Apart from the chains she was currently suspended from, it was a fairly normal office, pedestrian even. There was a ridiculously large, expensive looking desk and shelves lined with weighty tombs that Carmilla would bet money the Major had never cracked the spine of. A cursory glance at some of the titles raised all sorts of red flags and told Carmilla everything she really needed to know about the man. Especially when coupled with his choice of decorating accessories that you could hang a human being from. The Major was cruel and enjoyed indulging his cruelty, he had notions of being an intellectual, but most of all he enjoyed being in control. The dried blood splattered on the floor around where she hung suggested that she wasn’t the first poor unfortunate to have been brought here and strung up in this fashion.

Carmilla tugged on her restraints, testing their anchor to the beam they were attached to. Pretty solid. Carmilla didn’t doubt that even at her peak physical condition it would have taken all her strength and then some to snap the chains, never mind the cuffs themselves. There wasn’t any way she could see to brute force her way out of this one if the need were to arise.

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” The Major almost cooed, “Before you were born I set you apart.” He stepped forward and reached to touch Carmilla’s face, “You were my dream. The perfect soldier.”

Carmilla flinched away from his hand, she’d bite the sermonising asshole before she let him touch her, he didn’t know a damn frilly thing about her.

The Major undeterred by Carmilla’s clear contempt for him took his hand back and continued to walk a circle around her, “You were always supposed to be mine, Carmilla, my special girl. Look at what you’ve accomplished already on your own. Unlike that pitiful whelp of a brother.”

Carmilla’s blood boiled at the Major’s assumption that she was his property, that she belonged to anyone.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” The Major had completed a full circle and was stood in front of Carmilla once again, “That’s how it should have gone. You both should have been trained by me from the beginning. You should have been by my side. _My_ children. Can you imagine my surprise when I found out you were alive? That there had been a successful pair of subjects from Project Frey? Hidden from me in plain sight for years by two pious scientists?”

Carmilla sneered and bit her tongue so hard she tasted blood. It was one thing sassing the Major from behind her cell wall, it was another entirely when he was stood less than a foot away from her and she was flanked by a bunch of his armed lackies.

“You’re unusually quiet today, Carmilla. What happened to telling me to shove Revelations up my ass?” The Major smirked as he stepped away from her and leant against his desk.

Carmilla raised her eyes to look at the Major directly, she wanted to rip that stupidly tiny moustache from his top lip and feed it to him, “Colour me curious,” she drawled in the most neutral way she could manage, if she was to find out where her father was she would need to play the Major’s game, “what if I do fall in line, become a good little soldier, what’s the end game here?”

“This is my Ark.” The Major pushed off his desk and gestured around him, “When civilisation crumbles, which it is already inevitably doing, this will be the new cradle of civilisation. Your new home.” The Major crossed behind his desk and sat down, posture ram rod straight, he put his hands together almost in prayer.

“And let me guess, you will be the man who decides what is preserved and who is chosen to survive in your so-called new utopia?” Carmilla could hear the disdain creeping back into her voice.

The Major smiled tightly, “Of course.”

“So, why all the theatrics with Victor Zsasz?” Carmilla asked. She was genuinely curious. The Major hardly seemed like the type to get his hands dirty dealing with a horror like Zsasz. He wasn’t exactly new cradle of civilisation material. Why do business with him? Why not just come for her directly as they did Will?

“He was a means to an end Carmilla.” the Major shrugged, “You ask as if you would have come willingly if I’d approached you myself. Plus, it was fun to watch you run around trying to best him. It was a wonderful display of your abilities.”

“I probably would have come willingly if you’d mentioned my father was still alive.” Carmilla spat through gritted teeth. She likely would journey from one end of earth to the other if she knew one or both of her parents would be waiting there for her.

The Major’s left eye twitched a little and he pursed his lips, “Well. Yes. I’m sure you would have, but had it been up to me you would never have known that Dr. Karnstein was alive at all.” The Major ran his thumb and forefinger over his moustache and smirked, “Not to worry though. That’s all over and done with now. You and William shan’t be receiving any more secret little visits from your father.”

Carmilla felt panic start to grip her, her father had been found out after all. They wouldn’t be receiving any more visits? What did that mean exactly? Was her father dead? Were they just keeping a better watch over his movements round the base? Surely, he hadn’t finished the serum. He wouldn’t have been so stupid to leave himself vulnerable like that. Would he?

“This isn’t the new cradle of civilisation,” Carmilla couldn’t help herself. She was too tired, too hungry and too homesick to play games with this stupid, egotistical man. She tossed her head back and laughed, Goddess this man was a fool like any other, “it’s a cult. You’ve started a cult, like the little tin-pot dictator you are.” She couldn’t stop laughing, she was beginning to sound a little shrill and hysterical even to herself, “Cradle of civilisation,” the chains she hung from rattled along with her as she cackled, “oh, that’s a good one, is this even still an official branch of the Army?”

The Major’s nostrils flared, he flicked one finger lazily, a signal to one of the soldier’s behind Carmilla. The soldier stepped forward and rammed the butt of his rifle into her ribs.

Carmilla’s laughing suddenly choked off into a grunt of pain, she gripped the chains above her hands tightly and grimaced as she felt lightning shoot up her side. As the shock of pain ebbed to a searing heat and finally a persistent throb, Carmilla knew she had at least one broken rib. That certainly would put a dampener on laughing going forward. Point taken, do not laugh at Major Asshole.

The Major sighed, clearly disappointed, "Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them."

“You can definitely shove Psalms up your ass,” Carmilla bit out, oh her ribs were killing her. It was taking all the will power she had left not to show the pain on her face, not to give that dimwit the satisfaction of seeing her hurt.

“I don’t want to hurt you Carmilla, but you will respect me,” the Major stated flatly, “If you’re to lead my army, you will respect me.”

“Lead your army?” Carmilla sneered, “I’d rather lead myself into an early grave.”

The Major flicked his finger again and the little voice that had taken up residence in Carmilla’s head cursed her repeatedly for what it knew was coming. She heard the soldier step forward again. Carmilla braced herself for another shot to the ribs but was mildly surprised to find that, this time, the soldier chose to ram the butt of his gun into the back of her right knee. Carmilla had little chance of holding back the howl of pain that ripped its way from her throat. As soon as her knee gave way, so did what little purchase she had between her toes and the ground. Her previously dislocated shoulder snapped and popped as it slid out of place. She hung in the shackles limply, trying her best not to whimper.

“Take her back to her cell,” The Major commanded, “I have had enough of her insolence for one sitting. I no longer wish to gaze upon her disobedient face.”

“ _Your_ face...” Carmilla mumbled as pain fogged her brain and made her vision swim.

The soldiers uncuffed her from the shackles, and dragged her unceremoniously from the room.

#

Kirsch woke with a lazy smile to the sound of his shower running. Danny must’ve woken up before him and let him sleep on a little since she knew he was working to close that night. D-Bear was considerate like that. Kirsch stretched out a yawn and grinned from ear to ear. He’d dated men before, he’d dated woman, he’d totally dated folks who had identified as neither - but he’d never dated anyone who he liked half as much as Danny Lawrence. D-Bear loves him and he definitely loves her. It made his tummy all swirly and his heart feel ten times as big as it should. In a good way. Kirsch wasn’t sure if he’d ever really been in love before. It was really, kinda cool. Kirsch rolled out of bed and looked around for his underwear. Unable to find it he shrugged and headed to the kitchen, deciding to start making breakfast in spite of his nudity.

As he got the coffee started Kirsch’s thoughts turned to Danny’s bestie, Tiny Nerd. No, wait, Laura, he corrected himself. D-Bear had said he had to get used to calling people by their real names more often. He could do that. If Danny wanted him to. Kirsch had always liked Laura. She was so smart. He had never seen anyone with a winning record like hers at the pub quiz and she’d totally went from being a cop to like, being a reporter. Who just did that without being super smart? Kirsch was really happy to see the tiny nerd so happy after she had been so sad for so long. The Angry Hottie, Kirsch slapped himself on the forehead, Carmilla, her name was Carmilla. Carmilla seemed to really make Laura as happy as D-Bear made him. He knew that Danny and Laura had their own history, he’d seen enough of it play out at A Bar Named Sue, but if Danny said all that was ancient history? He was chill with that. What was a little ancient history between bros? To be honest, he was probably chill with it even if it wasn’t. Kirsch was just happy to go with the flow.

Kirsch peered in the fridge looking for inspiration. He really liked Carmilla too. Sure, she was a little mean and standoffish when she was getting to know you, but underneath all the snark she was actually really cool and nice. Carmilla always tipped big at the bar, whether he was serving or not, and she knew a lot about motorcycles which was rad. Heck, Angry Hottie had even given him some romance advice that had scored him major points with D-Bear. She was a bro’s bro, you know? Also, and this was so so cool, Carmilla was a superhero. A total crime fighting bad ass. Kirsch frowned, but Carmilla was missing and that had everyone a little on edge right now. He was trying to help out where he could. Which was totally why he had loaned Danny and Laura his car. Now that they were out there being total crime fighting bad asses too, they needed a sweet ride to get them around the city.

It was also really cool that he got to hang out at Carmilla’s house with the Parent Friends, LaFontaine and Perry were good company for a couple of olds. Perry always made sure you were fed and felt ok. She always seemed to know what to do if you didn’t feel ok too. One night, Kirsch had eaten too much pizza and drank way too much soda while watching movies with LaFontaine and Perry knew just what to do to make him feel better. He also really liked hanging out in the big garage with LaFontaine. They were always roping him in to helping with their latest gadget idea. Right now, they were developing a super sweet new fuel tank for the Chevy and Kirsch couldn’t wait to help build and install it. There had also been talk about a propulsion system for Carmilla’s bike but Tiny Nerd had looked a bit freaked out when they had been shooting the breeze about that so LaFontaine had suggested maybe they keep that on the down low for the time being.

Danny stepped into the kitchen wearing one of Kirsch’s t-shirts and a pair of his basketball shorts, she had a towel wrapped round her wet hair, “As much as I like staring at your toned, naked ass,” she eyed him with concern as she watched him place a skillet on the stove, “I wouldn’t advise cooking in the nude unless you want a burnt wiener.”

Kirsch looked a little confused before giving Danny a big smile, “Danny, I’m making eggs, not hot dogs for breakfast.”

Danny laughed, she was about to explain exactly what she had meant to the big, sweet lunk when she heard her phone ringing from the bedroom. She excused herself to go answer it, her explanation forgotten.

Kirsch beamed from ear to ear as he set about cracking some eggs into a bowl, D-Bear thought his ass was hot.

“Hold those eggs,” Danny came rushing into the kitchen and placed a lingering kiss on Kirsch’s lips, “I gotta go bro,” she kissed him again quickly, “I think LaF and Perry have a lead on Carmilla.”

“Oh!” Kirsch’s eyes went wide in surprise, “Do you need me to come with?”

“No, it’s cool,” Danny said as she shoved her feet into her sneakers, still dressed in Kirsch’s clothes, “I’ll catch you up once I know what’s going on. I’ll be by the bar before your shift is done.”

“Ok, I’ll have a cold one waiting,” Kirsch called over his shoulder as his attention turned back to his breakfast, “love you.”

Danny nipped back into the kitchen quickly and squeezed Kirsch’s ass gently as she left a kiss on his cheek, “I love you too, Bromeo.”

It turned out that Kirsch was in fact late for his shift because, as Danny predicted, he did burn his wiener. He was swishing some butter in a pan one minute and then the next it was all ow, ouch, burny and bad hot butter on skin. It had taken him a moment to deal with the fallout from that.

Kirsch was wiping down the bar and shaking his ass to a 90's country bop when two incredibly buff hotties stepped into A Bar Named Sue. They looked a little nervous and out of place, but that wasn’t unusual, first time visitors to the bar often had that look about them. It was part of Kirsch’s job to make them feel welcome and comfortable. A Bar Named Sue was a safe space for anyone who needed one,

“Hi, I’m Kirsch, what can I get you?” Kirsch asked as the two approached the bar.

“I’ll take an ale. Whatever you recommend.” The one with long, dark, curly hair said curtly.

Her friend drew her a slightly withering look.

“What? It’s a bar, I’m ordering a drink.”

Kirsch grabbed a pint glass and began to pour an ale from one of the many taps in front of him.

“We’re looking for Laura Hollis,” the slightly taller of the two stated.

Kirsch assumed that she was in charge. Of what he had no idea, but she definitely had a strong in charge vibe about her. She actually reminded him a little of Carmilla. An older Carmilla. Slightly scary, but ultimately hot.

“We’re…friends of Carmilla Karnstein.” the in-charge hottie added, “She said if we were ever in the city and needed to find her or Ms. Hollis to stop by here as it’s,” she looked round the dive bar a little disbelieving of what she was about to say next, “a safe place.”

“It sure is,” Kirsch smiled wide and hoped he was helping the duo feel more comfortable, “So, you’re looking for Tiny nerd? Uh, Laura Hollis?” Kirsch mentally high fived himself for what he thought of as a quick correction, “I gotchu, no problem, let me just call her.”

Kirsch stepped away from the bar and grabbed his phone from where it was charging, he pulled up Laura’s contact and pressed the call button. He turned back around as it rang and watched the two new patrons as they tried to adjust to their surroundings. The more he looked at them the more he thought they looked a little uncomfortable in the world in general, it wasn’t just the bar,

“It’s going to voicemail,” Kirsch said as Laura’s familiar voicemail greeting kicked in, “who should I tell her is looking for her?”

The in-charge hottie smiled, “Please tell her it’s Matska Belmonde and Melanippe Callis and we need to speak to her quite urgently.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gasp! Mattie and Mel are in town! Also, I cannot stress how much fun it is to write from Kirsch’s perspective. I love the big sweet ding dong and I figured this chapter needed to end on some levity. As always, you are welcome in the comments. I like to hear from y’all. 
> 
> Join me next week when the gang in Styria have a pow wow about how to rescue their kidnapped Carmilla and Carmilla herself finally gets to see what the super serum her father has been crafting can do to a regular GI Joe. Spoiler: It’s not great, Bob.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang meet Mattie and Mel and get down to brass tacks about rescuing Carmilla and Carmilla finds herself in an explosive situation...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for this chapter: Mild description of an explosion, some implied gore and the usual punchy, kicky fighting.
> 
> Shall we? Let's...

Ho-ly crap. Laura still couldn’t quite believe it. She was sitting at a table, flanked by Lafontaine and Perry, in A Bar Named Sue —across from Matska Belmonde. THE Matska Belmonde. Respected leader of Carmilla’s beloved, but still maddeningly secretive and secluded Collective. A person Laura wasn’t sure she would ever have the privilege of meeting in her lifetime. Yet here they were. Carmilla hadn’t been joking, Matska really did have a presence. She held herself proudly, her regal demeanour only mildly intimidating. Hoo boy — Laura had to keep reminding herself to stop staring, Matska Belmonde was cut like a statue carved from marble come to life.

Kirsch had shut the bar down for the remainder of the afternoon to allow them to talk in private, which was good of him, but he insisted they had to open back up before 7 pm. The baby gays from the nearby college had a wicked competitive darts league and tonight was apparently a semi-final.

Stood back from the table, hanging with Kirsch and Danny at the bar was Carmilla’s confident and Matska’s trusted right hand, Melanippe Callis. Danny and Mel regarded each other cautiously and sipped on their beers. It struck Laura that they both looked like they were loyal sentries, one from each party, stood guard. She didn’t fancy Danny’s chance in a fight though, Mel was all muscle and sinew. Her body was built for battle and Laura respected the heck out of the commitment that must take. Yoga and Krav Maga was one thing, cookies and hot chocolate were another.

Laura was shaken from her thoughts as Mattie began to explain what brought them to Styria City. Another member of their Collective, Elle, had bumped into the Carmilla decoy in Monaco. It had been a slightly comedic scene Mattie insisted. Elle approached who she thought was her old _friend_ Carmilla, to find instead a very convincing but not quite right fake. Apparently, she was all wrong in _certain_ …areas. Laura bristled at the implication that Carmilla and Elle clearly knew each other intimately. When realising the jig was up and clearly having imbibed one too many glasses of champagne, the fake Carmilla Karnstein had let it slip that the real Carmilla was missing and she had been deployed to make it seem like all was well. That Carmilla was just on one of her regular jaunts round Europe on business.

“I told you, you gave the decoy too much information.” Perry knowingly hissed to LaFontaine.

LaFontaine shrugged, “Look, I was stressed and we didn’t know where Carmilla was and I was trying to—”

Laura drew Carmilla’s guardians a look that was enough to silence them. They could bicker over this later, now was not the time.

“Sorry,” LaFontaine apologised, “you were saying.”

Mel pushed herself off the bar and stepped closer to the table, “In her last letter to me, Carmilla spoke at length about that lunatic she had been chasing around the city, Victor Pizazz.”

“Zsasz.” Danny clarified trying not to laugh. Victor Pizazz sounded like a stage magician who enjoyed jazz hands a little too much.

“Whatever,” Mel grunted before continuing, “Carmilla seemed really troubled by him. When Elle bumped into the fake Karnstein and then news reached us that the vigilante of Styria City was dead, we thought we may be coming here to pay our respects.”

“Quite,” Mattie agreed solemnly, “but it doesn’t look like that’s the whole story.”

“No,” Laura confirmed, shaking her head, “it’s definitely not.”

LaFontaine cleared their throat and began to worry at the skin on their thumb, “Carmilla was taken.”

“By, by an old acquaintance of the family.” Perry added as she took LaFontaine’s hand to prevent further damage being done to their digit.

“So, you know where she is?” Mel sat her pint glass on the table a little roughly and glowered, “Why aren’t we all heading in that direction right now?”

Mattie held a halting hand out to Mel, silently urging her to calm herself. She was used to the brusqueness of Mel’s eager to punch first, ask questions later personality, but it could be quite off putting to people meeting her for the first time.

“We think we know where she is, yes.” Perry confirmed, shrinking back from the table a little. She nudged LaFontaine and urged them to roll out the blueprint that sat in a cardboard tube by their chair.

“Oh,” LaF sprang into action, grabbing up the plans and unrolling them across the table haphazardly.

Mel just had time to snatch up her glass before the contents ended up all over the floor.

“She’s here. We think,” LaF gestured at the plans, “Carmilla is being held at a secret facility called the ark.”

“Look at this place.” Laura huffed dramatically, throwing her hands in the air, “It’s going to take a small army to get to her,” she frowned, “I don’t have an army in my back pocket, do you?” Laura sank in her chair, feeling a little defeated before they had even begun. She forgot entirely who she was talking to.

Mattie smiled promisingly, “Actually, yes, a small army can probably be arranged.”

“Oh.” Laura muttered, a little embarrassed, of course it could. Matska had a whole camp full of trained, skilled people exactly for this purpose.

“So, what is this place?” Mel tipped her chin at the blueprints, leaning down on the table to get a better look.

“We know what it is in theory,” LaFontaine began.

Perry picked up their person’s unfinished sentence, “The officer who was in charge of Project Frey, the project that created Carmilla, he had a,” she faltered trying to think of the politest way to explain, “he had an obsession.”

“He was convinced the world was coming to an untimely end and he would be the bastion of the new centre of civilisation.” LaFontaine rolled their eyes.

“Sounds like giant tool,” Danny offered. She smiled, appreciative of the fact she had drawn a snort of amusement from Mel.

“We’ve dealt with many like him.” Mattie stated matter of fact.

“If these plans are correct, he managed to build his ark,” LaFontaine said gravely, “a heavily guarded facility to withstand the end of the world as we know it and completely self-sufficient.”

Mattie and Mel cast their eyes over the plans. It was a decent sized facility, but it wasn’t anything they hadn’t really seen before. There was an octagonal main building that according to the plans housed a lab, a holding facility and things you needed to keep an army ticking over like the mess hall, the armoury and what not. A separate building housed barracks and a third building closer to the shore acted as a power station for the island. Dotted around the buildings at strategic points were the expected look out points and sentry huts.

“If that’s where we’ll find Carmilla,” Laura said, her fists clenching and unclenching at her side, “we may have to crack a few skulls to get to her.”

Kirsch pumped his arms in the air and yelled enthusiastically, “Yeah! We’re honour bound to pound those clowns!”

Everyone startled a little and turned to stare at him.

“What?” he asked innocently.

Danny grabbed one of Kirsch’s hands and gave it an appreciative squeeze as he lowered his arms, “How do we know this isn’t just a suicide mission?” She asked turning her attention back to the group. Someone had to be practical here. They had no idea how many soldiers were waiting for them at the ark or exactly how heavily fortified it was. The plans could be out of date for all they knew.

“If things go sideways I’ll put you down for the first I told you so,” Laura promised, “but we have to try.”

“Some things are more important than whether you can win”, Perry said emphatically with a little self-conscious shrug.

“So, you stand up anyway.” Laura agreed, standing up from the table to emphasise her point.

“Carmilla would do it for any of us.” LaFontaine chipped in.

Danny nodded, they were right, she knew they were right.

“We’re gonna need a boat. If these co-ordinates are correct, the ark is an island within an island,” LaFontaine said bringing everyone back to the necessary task of planning, “and I don’t mean like the yacht Carmilla has docked at Styria City harbour.”

“Oh,” Kirsch put his hand in the air as if he was waiting to be called on in class.

“Wilson,” Perry acknowledged him and urged him to continue.

“I totally know a guy. Owns a shipping company. Owes me a favour.” Kirsch babbled.

“Good lad, Wilson,” LaFontaine grinned, they really were becoming fond of Danny’s boyfriend, “You’ll give him a call?”

“Of course!” Kirsch beamed, he was happy that he could help out some more.

Laura stared at the blueprint laid out on the table, chewing on her lip nervously, “I think our best weapon is going to be surprise.”

“I’m pretty sure weapons are the best weapon.” Mel replied, crossing her arms across her chest.

“I can probably help out with the supply of anything you need,” LaF suggested. Mel looked curious.

“Well, that settles it.” Danny raised her glass, “Let’s go rescue Karnstein’s kidnapped ass.”

Mattie gave a lazy stretch and yawned, “As charming as it’s been getting to know you all, we have had a long day and I am exhausted. It may be prudent to reconvene tomorrow when we’re all at our sharpest mentally. Come up with a proper plan?”

“You’ll stay with us,” Perry offered, “we have plenty of space.”

Mattie looked at Mel and then at her unfinished beer expectantly.

“You can take your wise ass home with the ginger twins,” Mel smirked, “I want to see what this darts tournament is all about. It sounds competitive and…gay.”

“Oh, it’s a train wreck,” Danny laughed, “Let me buy you a beer and I’ll catch you up on the team statistics and drama.”

Mel nodded appreciatively and wandered back to the bar to join Danny.

“What about you Hollis? Buy you a pop?” Danny asked.

“Thanks Dan,” Laura accepted the offer and joined her and Mel at the bar. They started telling Mel enthusiastically about the last semi-final in which it was revealed a member of the Darty Deeds had been sleeping with not one, but two members of their arch rivals, Projectile Dysfunction.

LaFontaine rolled the blueprints back up and stuffed them into the cardboard tube, they smiled as they watched Perry approach the younger members of their team at the bar, they knew what was coming next.

“Now, we’re going to have a big day of planning ahead of us tomorrow,” Perry warned them, “don’t stay out too late, don’t drink too much and remember to drink a pint of water for every pint of beer you drink.”

Mel looked at Perry like she was about to argue when Laura shook her head no, “It’s easier just to agree.” She stage-whispered behind her hand.

Danny and Laura smiled wide, “Sure, Perr’. We know.” They said in unison which led them to snicker like a couple of kids.

“Come on Perry,” LaFontaine grabbed their person by the elbow, “let’s leave the youth to their folly.”

Perry opened her mouth to argue, but instead gave the group a curt nod and let LaFontaine lead them from the bar. Hell mend them if they couldn’t concentrate in the morning.

#

Carmilla lifted her eyes and peered out through her lank, dirty hair as a gun at her back urged her through a crowd of soldiers. This room looked sort of familiar, the low lighting, the equipment she could see…a flash of memory struck her all of a sudden, the needles, the doctors, the pain…Carmilla’s vision lurched along with her stomach. She stumbled a few steps before regaining her footing, swallowing the bile that had climbed her throat. They were in the ark’s lab. The room was packed wall to wall with what looked like a full company of soldiers. Carmilla scanned the unfamiliar faces, hoping to pick out her father as she was moved through the crowd.

Suddenly the troop thinned and Carmilla was brought forcefully to a stop. She was front row to witness Goddess knows what. Carmilla bit back a wince of pain as she was pushed roughly to her knees. Her right knee was still bruised and smarting from the gun that was jammed into it. The less said about her ribs, the better. Breathing through the pain wasn’t an option, it just made her chest and side ache all the more. If her hands hadn’t been secured behind her back and the room hadn’t been filled with at least a 100 or more soldiers, she would’ve given her handler a lesson on how to be gentler with his prisoners.

A few seconds later, Will joined her on the cold concrete floor. He slumped against her and Carmilla gladly took his weight as best she could. Something was wrong with Will. He was getting thinner and weaker as the days ticked on. He was barely conscious and even when he was, he rarely made sense. Carmilla’s concerns had fallen on deaf ears. No one seemed to care if her brother withered away to nothing, especially the Major, which could only really mean one thing. The serum was likely ready.

The crowd hushed and Carmilla glanced up to see the Major stood above the assembled Company on a metal catwalk. She gasped when she realised the cowed man in the shadows behind him was her father. Thank the Goddess he was still alive.

“Many of you have been with me from the beginning.” The Major began.

Carmilla had to stop herself from groaning aloud when she realised they were about to be treated to another one of Major Asshole’s wonderfully verbose speeches. She’d heard quite enough of those, thank you very much.

“You listened to me when I warned about the inevitable fall of society. Journeyed with me to this place. Helped me to build this ark.”

Carmilla tried to subtly rouse Will, she had a bad feeling about this assembly. Will’s head continued to loll on her shoulder. Shit, she was in this alone if it came down to it, her brother was no use to anyone in his condition.

“But whether you were with us from the beginning, or joined our ranks only recently,” the Major looked at Carmilla and Will, “You are now part of this great endeavour. You — are now part of our mission to save mankind.”

Enthusiastic applause broke out amongst the crowd. The Major basked in his perceived glory. He signalled for a soldier to step forward. The chosen soldier stepped from the crowed wearing nothing but his dog tags and his underwear. He walked into the middle of the room and it became clear to Carmilla what was going on. They had been brought here to witness the first administered dose of the super serum.

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

‘Oh please,’ Carmilla thought, as another round of applause broke out, she was pretty sure that was not what that passage in the bible was meant to be interpreted as. It was not meant to encourage soldiers to blindly and willingly offer their bodies in some arrogant shitbird’s quest to create the ultimate soldier. Then again, Carmilla was pretty sure every man who had ever set eyes on the bible had decided to interpret it however the hell he wanted to suit his own gain.

The Major turned and nodded at a soldier behind him, the soldier prodded Carmilla’s father with his rifle and urged him down the flight of steps to where the volunteer stood, eagerly waiting. Carmilla strained against the cuffs holding tight to her wrists and fought the urge to stand or call out. In her father’s hands Carmilla could see a small metal tray that carried two vials of something neon yellow, alongside the vials was a jet injector. In her father’s body language Carmilla could read nothing but fear.

Karl’s hands shook as he lifted a vial and secured it into the jet injector. He asked the soldier to step closer to him, “This may sting a little,” he advised as he pressed the jet injector to the volunteers arm and pulled the trigger.

The room feel expectantly silent. Waiting for something to happen.

“How do you feel, son?” The Major asked after a few moments as he leaned over the walkway bannister. If the Major wasn’t willing to be anywhere near the soldier whilst he adjusted to the dose, Carmilla started to wonder if any of them should be.

The soldier looked at his hands, opened and closed them, watched as the neon serum visibly blazed a path down through the veins in his arms, “I feel fine, sir, better than fine in fact.”

Carmilla looked on with a horrified curiosity as she watched the soldier’s already fit body grow before her eyes, his body mass increased, his muscles began to bulk and bulge as the neon yellow liquid coursed round his circulatory system. As it creeped up his neck the soldier began to twitch. He clenched his jaw shut, grinding his teeth as he fell to his knees.

“Dr Karnstein,” the Major sounded concerned, “is this supposed to happen?”

Karl attempted to back away. He knew that the serum wasn’t going to work the way the Major wanted it to, that was deliberate, but the realisation that he had likely just murdered a soldier began to set in. He wanted to be anywhere but there right now.

“Grab him!” the Major commanded and two soldiers stepped forward to hold Carmilla’s father.

The test subject began to claw at his face, pulling at his mouth as if he was trying to free his skull from his skin. It looked like he was trying to slip it off like a hood. Suddenly his eyes began to bulge in an almost cartoonlike fashion and then after an almighty pop — Carmilla found herself shaking chunks of what had once been a soldier out her hair. The room erupted into utter chaos as those in the front wiped blood and gore out of their eyes and the rest of the Company tried to process what the hell they’d just witnessed.

“You, you did this didn’t you Dr Karnstein?” the Major roared as he darted down the steps, “You feckless bastard!”

Carmilla growled as the Major struck her father across the face, she’d seen enough. Her current injuries be damned, she stood swiftly and kicked back at the shin of the soldier guarding her, as he bent in pain, she kicked out again knocking the gun from his hands. In the ensuing chaos of the aftermath of the exploding wonder soldier, Carmilla managed to charge across the room, shouldering her full weight into Major Asshole, pushing him away from her Dad. The downside of charging at the Major like a runaway train with your hands cuffed behind your back, was of course, a lack of a center of balance. Carmilla hadn’t really thought about that when she started running. She just saw red and charged. The Major tumbled to the ground, pulling Carmilla along with him. She fought hard not to black out as her side erupted in explosive pain, any healing to her broken ribs likely undone. The agony was all the motivation she required to rear her head back and smash her forehead into the Major’s face as hard as she could manage.

Suddenly, Carmilla felt hands grab at her shoulders. She tried to control her wild breath as she was dragged away from the yowling Major. The adrenaline that was coursing through her veins was taking the edge off for the time being, but she had no doubt she was going to feel the repercussions of misusing her barely healed body as a battering ram sooner rather than later.

“Do not shoot her!” the Major spat sharply as blood flowed from his nose and into his mouth, “Holster your weapons.” He commanded as he staggered to his feet, “Holster your damn weapons!”

Carmilla smirked, it seemed like every soldier in the room suddenly had their guns trained on her and now they all stood frozen, stuck between their base instinct to see the attacker of their precious leader laid dead and their learned behaviour to follow orders.

"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” The Major muttered as he wiped his nose on a handkerchief pulled from his pocket, “This is just a setback. Nothing more.”

The Major continued to dab at his nose with one hand as he straightened out his uniform with the other, he walked determinedly towards the tray that contained the second vial and loaded it into the jet injector.

“The reward for your impudence,” the Major pointedly looked at Karl, “Shall be to see what this failed batch does to someone already enhanced.”

Carmilla tensed defensively. She really hadn’t had explode like a microwaved gremlin on her bingo card for the day.

“Please, leave her alone.” Karl pleaded as he looked frantically between the Major and Carmilla.

“Oh, don’t worry Dr. Karnstein,” the Major’s voice dripped with disdain, “I wouldn’t touch our glittering girl with your filthy concoction. No, we’ll test it on your more…disposable child.”

“Don’t you dare touch him,” Carmilla struggled weakly against the soldiers who had a hold of her.

“Or you’ll what Carmilla?” the Major snarled as he stepped slowly over to where Will sat, his chin tucked against his chest and his eyes closed. The Major grabbed at Will’s hair and pulled his head back sharply, exposing his neck. Without any preamble the Major jammed the jet injector into Will’s neck and pulled the trigger.

Carmilla screwed her eyes shut and tried her damnedest to block out Will’s yowls of pain and confusion as the serum took effect. She couldn’t watch what happened to the volunteer soldier happen to Will. Not when she’d kinda got used to having him around. Not when she’d kinda started to like him. However, when the screaming and the yelling and gunfire started, Carmilla snapped open her eyes. Will was…he was huge. He was a hulking; muscled monstrosity and his skin had taken on the same yellow glow as the serum. Carmilla watched on in awe as Will tossed soldiers around the room like ragdolls, knocking groups of them on their asses like bowling pins. Apparently, he was impervious to bullets as well. Will scowled as the bullets flying at him glanced off his skin seemingly doing nothing but irritate him.

“Carmilla!” Karl yelled above the bedlam in the lab, “We have to do something before they actually hurt him or worse.”

Carmilla stepped towards Will, the soldiers weakly holding her elbows didn’t seem keen to stop her, “Hey! Hey Willy Boy!” she yelled, trying to get Will’s attention.

The Major popped his head out from where he was cowering, “Ceasefire!” he bellowed as Carmilla stepped into the line of fire, “Hold your fire!”

Will gave a confused grunt as the cacophony of gunfire ceased and turned to face Carmilla.

“William,” Carmilla tried to keep her voice even as she stared hard into Will’s raging blue eyes, “Will, it’s me. It’s Carmilla.” Will’s glare narrowed on Carmilla, his huge nostrils flaring as he beat his chest in anger.

Carmilla changed tack and backed away from him with a limp. She knew she had to keep moving, afraid if she stood still he would just knock her into next week without a second thought, “I know we’ve never been the best of friends, but I think we were starting to get somewhere.” Carmilla staggered backwards, slower than she would have liked, as Will swiped at her with one of his enlarged hands, “You know me Will, you don’t want to hurt me.”

For a moment Will paused, a flash of recognition on his face. Carmilla could see the hate and anger flicker out of his eyes, replaced with confusion and sorrow,

“’milla?” Will mumbled before tumbling to the ground unconscious, his hulking form already beginning to shrink.

“William!” Karl broke free from the soldier who had been holding his lab coat by the back of its collar.

The soldier moved to recapture him, but the Major waved him off.

Karl sank to his knees “William?” he said again, reaching for Will’s neck to check for a pulse.

“Is he…” Carmilla fell to her knees beside her father, she was too afraid to finish the sentence. Will’s head hadn’t exploded like the other guy, but he really didn’t look good.

“Still alive.” Karl said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“As touching as this family moment is,” the Major signalled for his soldiers to step forward, “I’ve had enough. You, Dr. Karnstein need to think about what went wrong here and fix it.”

Karl gave an anguished yelp as a soldier hauled him to his feet, pulling him away from his ailing son.

“Take him back to the cells,” the Major gestured in Will’s direction, completely disgusted by the site of him.

“No,” Karl protested, “he needs medical attention.”

“Well,” the Major roared, “it’s just as well you’re a doctor and you’re going with him then isn’t it!”

Carmilla struggled as two soldiers began to man handle her to her feet.

“Take her to my office.”

“No!” Carmilla tried to back away from the soldiers who were pawing at her, she knew she had no chance in her condition, there were too many of them and she was too injured, “Dad!” Carmilla yelled as she watched them drag her brother and father from the lab, “I’m going to get us out of here!” She grimaced as the soldiers finally got a decent grip on her.

“Yes, I’m sure you think you are,” the Major smoothed his hair back with the palm of his hand, “take her to my office.” He repeated, “Make sure she’s secured. I don’t want any further…excitement.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. Hell.
> 
> As someone in the comments said last week, the shit seems to be getting ready to hit the fan. Really it is. Join us next week when Laura pops in to visit her Dad and Carmilla finally gets one up on the Major.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura goes to visit her dad and Carmilla finally gets some good news...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's get the back end of this story on the road, shall we?

Laura drove the road to Solitude Heights Psychiatric Hospital, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel and humming along to the radio. She still hated driving this road, but now it was mostly due to the traffic rather than anything else. Laura cursed the Tardis dwelling Doctor of space and time that scheduled visiting hours that ensured she hit peak traffic anytime she wanted to visit her dad. Which it turned out, was at least once a week now. Laura sighed and turned the radio up louder, a vain attempt to fill the car with something other than silence. Carmilla had started joining her on the drive to Solitude Heights, first waiting for Laura in the car with a book and then eventually being persuaded to join her inside. It seemed odd to be making the drive without her now, but then a lot of things in life felt strangely off kilter without Carm by her side.

Traffic slowed to a crawl before stopping entirely. Laura wound down her window and leant her head out slightly, trying to get some air. She knew she had been avoiding this visit. She’d called. Told her dad she had been busy, which wasn’t exactly a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth either. Laura had been putting off this visit because she didn’t know how to lie about where Carmilla was, she didn’t know how to tell her dad Carmilla was missing without falling apart. He was still fragile, better, but fragile and she wasn’t sure how much of the truth he could handle.

Laura was avoiding this visit because she knew her dad would have that tattered chess board sat in the centre of the room and his face would fall when she turned up alone. Carmilla had spotted the boxed board on a shelf the first time she was stood awkwardly in Sherman’s room, admitting to Laura later that she only brought it up for lack of anything else to say. Laura loved to watch Carmilla and her Dad play chess but no one could have predicted it was going to turn into a rivalry for the ages,

“When are you going to stop letting him win?” Laura had asked one afternoon as they drove back towards the city.

“Sweetheart, I stopped letting him win about three weeks ago,” Carmilla had replied without a hint of humour in her voice.

Laura had glanced at Carmilla in the passenger seat to make sure she wasn’t being sarcastic and had to stifle a laugh. She was being deadly serious. Go dad, Laura had proudly thought. She he had definitely inherited her competitive streak from him and it warmed her heart to know he hadn’t lost his after everything.

Laura was shaking her head and smiling at the memory when a familiar song came on the radio. The last time she’d heard this song it had been playing from the speaker in her kitchen. The sudden recollection of _when_ it had been playing in her kitchen sent a heated blush up Laura’s neck and into her cheeks.

It had been a late summer night, the sun still impossibly high in the sky despite the time. One of those summer night’s that felt like it may just go on forever if you wanted it to hard enough. They had just returned from an afternoon of drinking at A Bar Named Sue. Stumbling through the front door of Laura’s apartment, more than a little drunk and sweating from the walk home. Carmilla still gloating about wiping the floor with Danny at pool, had wandered into the kitchen to fetch two cold beers and flicked the radio on. Suddenly the gloating about pool had been replaced with bitching about the stifling heat in Laura’s tiny apartment and complaining that she could have paid for a new air conditioner twice over by now, _Cutie_. This had set them to bickering. Laura didn’t need Carmilla to buy her a new air conditioner, she needed her landlord to replace the broken one like he said he was going to. It was the principal of the thing.

“Of course,” Carmilla had drawled, leaning into the cool air of the fridge, “why be cool and comfortable in the height of Styrian summer heat when you can be hot, sticky and have principals.”

Carmilla had stood up, two beers in hand, lifted her sunglasses on top of her head, because somehow, she was still wearing those indoors and quirked an eyebrow. A silent ‘what?’ to the way Laura had been looking at her as she waited for Laura’s rejoinder. Laura had tried her hardest not to stare as she watched a bead of sweat make its way from the top of Carmilla’s neck and down, down, down, into her cleavage. Which Laura was pretty sure Carmilla had placed directly in her line of sight deliberately. Laura’s brain was about to short circuit, either from the heat or from trying to decide whether she wanted to kiss her way down the path the bead of sweat had taken or lick her way up.

That stupid bead of sweat was all it had taken to kickstart Laura’s libido. She went from principled and argumentative to horny and ravenous in an instant. The way Carmilla’s curls spiralled from behind the legs of her sunglasses, the way she hung on the fridge door, grinning that arrogant stupid grin of hers as she made her point. It was maddening. Stupid, sexy and maddening. Laura had stepped forward, slammed the fridge door shut and pressed Carmilla up against the nearby kitchen counter. She kissed Carmilla hard. All tongue and teeth and shut your stupid, gorgeous mouth Karnstein. Carmilla had smirked into the kiss as she blindly sat the beers down to inevitably be forgotten and wrapped her arms around Laura’s waist. Laura knew she had basically been goaded into kissing Carmilla to shut her up, but she didn’t care. Sometimes a healthy debate was all the foreplay they needed.

Giving Laura’s ass a possessive squeeze, Carmilla had walked them backwards out of the kitchen and towards Laura’s sofa. She broke their languid kissing to sit down and pull Laura into her lap. The moment Laura had settled, she had leaned in for another kiss. Laura nipped at Carmilla’s bottom lip, smirking proudly at the tiny, excited yelp the action elicited. A surge of pure want coursed through Laura’s very being at the whimpered noise Carmilla made as Laura soothed at her swollen lip with her tongue. Soon Laura was coaxing Carmilla’s mouth open so she could brush their tongues—

A sharp honk pulled Laura from the memory and suddenly she remembered what she was doing. Going to visit dad. Traffic. The traffic was moving. She flicked the radio to a sports station and figured the 20 minutes left in her journey was more than enough time to calm her… racing heart. Thankfully, she was right.

Laura parked the car and took a deep breath. She could do this. She had to make this visit count. Just in case. It could be her last visit ever. Laura shook her head, no, she couldn’t think like that. They had a plan and it was a good plan by all accounts. They also had a small army on its way and experienced leaders in Matska, Perry and LaFontaine. There was more than a good chance this was going to work. Laura dramatically let her head fall against her steering wheel. It had to work. First though, she had to get out of her car and go visit her dad.

“Well as I live and breathe,” Gus said as Laura walked through the door that lead to reception, “Laura Hollis we were starting to think you had gone AWOL on us again.”

Laura waved awkwardly as she headed for the sign in book, “Hi Gus,” she picked up the pen that sat nestled in the gutter of the book and scrawled her name, “Just been a busy month.” She tried not to squirm under the scrutiny of Gus’ stare. She knew she could have done a better job at covering up the bruising that still littered her face. Laura knew he was just concerned, she just didn’t know if she could take the prying that came with the concern.

“Where’s that dark-haired seductress that’s usually glued to your side?” Gus asked as he took a sip from the coffee mug in his hands.

Oh crap. Laura felt her lip wobble and water begin to pool at the corner of her eyes, maybe she would have actually have preferred a line of questioning about her face. Why was it so hard just to say Carmilla was busy? LaFontaine and Perry made it look positively simple,

“She’s on a business trip.” Laura heard herself say mechanically. ‘Good job Hollis’, she thought, not going to be winning any awards for acting this Oscar season but a valiant try none the less.

Gus sat his coffee cup down and reached for the door release button to buzz Laura through, he hesitated, “Are you alright honey?”

Laura mustered up her best smile and hoped it reached her eyes, “Yeah, it’s just been an exhausting week.”

“Well, busy month and exhausting week aside,” Gus waved his hand as if he was trying to shift any negative energy in the air, “your dad is super excited to see you. It’s all he’s talked about all morning.”

This time Laura didn’t have to try and put on a genuine smile. Anytime she thought about the fact that her dad was verbal again, she couldn’t help but smile. She thanked Gus and stepped through into the main facility. As Laura walked down the familiar hall to her dad’s room, she prayed to every deity she could think of, from real to pop culture, that _he_ wouldn’t really notice her busted up face. Laura took a deep breath and stepped into his open doorway,

“Hi Dad,”

“L-laura Eileen Hollis, what happened to your face?” Sherman sprang from his armchair, somehow managing to wear an expression of extreme concern and, what could only be described as, parental crossness all at once. He reached forward and cradled Laura’s face gently in his hands.

So, yep, he definitely noticed.

Laura let her dad turn her head from side to side a few times as he inspected the damage to her still healing cuts and bruises. The novelty and happiness at hearing him say her name even made the inevitable scolding coming her way somehow bearable.

“Would you believe I’m the new enforcer for a local beer league team?” Laura tried to joke.

“You’re like, like, like Bambi on ice, kid.” Sherman continued to scrutinise her face, “Shoulda went with Krav Maga training incident. That I would have actually believed.”

Laura’s dad finally let go of her face and kissed her forehead, as he stepped back towards his chair he looked over Laura towards the door, “Where’s Carmilla?”

And that was all it took for Laura to crack. She’d used all her (admittedly pathetic) ‘where’s Carmilla energy’ with Gus at the front desk. Forget all the pep talks and deep breaths and promises she made to herself in the car about keeping her dad out of this. She took one look at his curiously disappointed face as he eased himself into his comfy chair. The damn chess board set up in front of it and she cracked. She never could lie to her dad. It all came tumbling out in a messy jumble of wailed sentences and over enthusiastic hand gestures. Laura was aware her dad’s eyebrows had shot into his non-existent hairline when she started talking about chasing down Victor Zsasz, her hand had gone to the scar on her throat instinctively. She fingered it nervously as she continued to spill the rest of the story in-between gulping sobs about how she was heartbroken and worried sick.

Sherman patted his knee, when Laura looked at him dubiously, he patted it again a little harder and gave his patented, I’m your father I know what’s best look. Laura acquiesced, climbing into her dad’s lap just like she had done when she was a little kid. So, she was a little bigger than she’d been back then, but she still fit and it was still comforting as all heck. For both of them.

“You remember when you were six and the house caught on fire?” Sherman asked quietly, rocking Laura a little in his arms.

“I just spilled my guts about being a secret vigilante, about Carmilla being kidnapped by the military,” Laura sniffed and wiped at the tears staining her face with her sleeve, “and you want to talk about when our house nearly burned to the ground?”

“Stick with me here.” Sherman requested softly.

Laura sat up a little and looked at her dad skeptically, “You don’t want to yell at me about being irresponsible and how I could really get hurt?”

Sherman shook his head, “You’re a grown woman,” he placed his hand gently on Laura’s head and eased it back down against his shoulder. The ridiculousness of their current position whilst paired with that statement was not lost on him, “I checked out of your, your, your life and left you to fend for yourself. I don’t get to yell at you for anything.”

“Dad—”

“Plus, from what you’ve said, it sounds like Danny did enough yelling to earn herself some real dad points,” he said with a little chuckle.

“Yeah, she sure is going to make a great parent someday.” Laura played with a button hole on her dad’s cardigan.

“So, do you remember the time when you were six when the house almost burned down?” Sherman asked again.

“Yeah.” Laura said quietly as she cuddled into the crook of her father’s neck. He no longer smelled of the aftershave she remembered from her childhood, but he still smelled overwhelmingly and soothingly like her dad.

“I woke up, all disorientated, you were already downstairs just like I’d taught you, yelling at me to, to, to wake up and the house was already filling up with smoke.” Sherman sighed, “All I could think was that you needed to get away. You just needed to get out before you suffocated or worse. But you wouldn’t do it. You would not open that door, the front door that, that, that was right behind you, and leave the house until I was with you.”

“I was scared.” Laura half laughed, “I wasn’t going to leave you inside while I stood on the front lawn watching the house burn. You needed to leave with me. So that I knew you were ok. That you were safe too.”

“You were scared, I know, but when the firemen came, they said your hollering and waking me up? It probably did save my live. Even then, six years old, you were willing to, to, to risk your life for someone else.”

Laura shook her head, “I’m not sure that’s—"

Sherman shushed her gently to stop her interrupting his train of thought, “My point is, you’ll always be the one fighting for someone else Laura and those of us who love you will be thankful to have you in our corner.”

Tears started slipping down Laura’s cheeks again. Slightly happier tears this time. She hadn’t heard her dad express himself like this, well, ever she didn’t think. The fact that he could do so now, after everything, filled her up in such an overwhelming way the only release she had was to cry.

“You listen to me, ok?” Sherman squeezed Laura against his chest for emphasis, “You’re going to take your vitamin C everyday ok? And you’re, you’re, you’re going to take a walk when you leave here and clear your head and then you’re going to go and get Carmilla back. If for nothing else, so I can, can, can beat her at chess. Again.”

Laura sobbed out a laugh and nodded, still sniffling.

“I’m so, so, very proud of you Laura.” Sherman said as he placed a soft kiss to the side of her head.

“I’m proud of _you_ Dad.” Laura said squeezing him back and smiling. She really was. It was unbelievable how far he’d come in a year. It was amazing in fact. He was talking, he was participating in therapy, if all kept going well, Laura hoped to have him out of the facility and into his own little place sooner rather than later.

“A pair of proud Hollis’.” Sherman nodded and gave Laura another squeeze. He didn’t want to let her go.

The bell that announced the end of visiting hours began to ding,

“That’s my cue,” Laura sniffed as she climbed out of her dad’s lap. She straightened her clothes and avoided looking directly at him, “I’ll see you…” Laura trailed off and bit her lip, trying not to start crying again.

“You’ll see me soon, Laura.” Sherman stood and pulled her into another tight hug, “And when in doubt, kid? Aim for the eyes.”

#

Time had become an even more elastic concept for Carmilla. Without Will’s inane chat to keep her going or any sort of a regimented meal routine, she was at a loss for even an inkling of hours passing let alone days. She literally had no idea how long she had been shackled in the Major’s office. For all she knew she had been there forever. _Ok, that was melodramatic_. At least she had the little voice in her head for company. The Major came and went. Carmilla stayed. He brought her meals. She refused to eat them. He spoke. She ignored him.

At first Carmilla had repeatedly asked for updates on her father and Will, but when it became clear that Major Asshole wasn’t going to surrender any information they had settled into a sort of one-way communication. That was to say the Major often ranted and raved in Carmilla’s general direction and she tried to block out his incessant nasally tone by singing show tunes in her head. Show tunes hadn’t been her first choice, but the voice that had taken up residence in her head at the start of all this mess seemed fond of them. She could only blame Laura for the staggering amount that it new start to end. Mercifully, the chain that shackled her had been given some length this time and she could at least keep her hands at waist height, pace a little, lay down if necessary. Her ribs and shoulder still ached like all hell, but she’d take what she could get at this point.

“I don’t understand why it’s not working the way it should.” The Major frothed as he paced in front of his desk, “I’ve tried the stick and the carrot and all your father produces is dreck that kills my soldiers.”

Carmilla thought the Major was starting to look a little disheveled. It had been a very pace-y and ranty afternoon for him so far. Carmilla wondered if something had happened, if time was becoming an issue for Major Asshole. She was also starting to wonder how smart this man really was if he was willing to keep feeding his soldiers to a super serum that was more super failure than super soldier. It was clear that the troops were thinning and if the chatter she picked up from the soldiers who guarded her was to be believed, a lot of them were terrified that they were going to be next. Everyone wanted to keep their body un-exploded, thank you very much. Was he so hell bent on seeing this thing through he would end up the only one left on the damn island?

“Your father never exactly was the brilliant one between him and your mother, but I thought he could at least create me something that worked!” the Major yanked at his tie, loosening it and tossing it on to his desk.

Carmilla smirked and drawled, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” The Major wasn’t the only one in the room who could quote the bible and twist it to their own meaning.

The Major turned, his face contorted with rage, he stepped towards Carmilla his hand raised ready to strike at her insolence when the lights in his office flickered and a faint explosion could be heard in the distance, “What the hell was that?” He screamed at the soldiers stood sentry at the office door. They looked back at him blankly, one even gave a half-hearted little shrug, “Well don’t just stand there! Find out!”

Carmilla had to bite her lip to keep from laughing as she watched the soldiers practically falling over one another as they scrambled out the door. She had an inkling of what it was. It was about frilly fucking time was what it was.

Suddenly the room was plunged into complete darkness. Another explosion shook the walls. Carmilla sensed an opportunity, if she couldn’t see the Major then he couldn’t see her. She took a deep breath, collected up the slack on the chains and pulled with all the might left in her body.

Nothing. Happened. The anchor didn’t budge an inch. She was still captive and in the pitch dark.

“Don’t even think about it, Carmilla.”

Carmilla froze as the Major hissed in her ear. Shit. Busted.

The room was suddenly bathed in a low-level red light, allowing Carmilla and the Major to see one another again. Carmilla watched as he unhooked the shackles from their anchor, wrapped the chains round his fist and forearm and began pulling her towards his office door. Opening it a crack he checked the corridor was clear. He unholstered his gun with his free hand and tugged on the chains. When all he was met with was resistance he turned, an impatient sneer hanging from his lips,

“Move Carmilla.”

Carmilla stood her ground at the end of the chains. Her legs were already starting to shake a little from the effort, “Where are we going?”

“Wherever the fuck I take us.”

Carmilla staggered forward as the Major yanked the chains again. She had never heard him swear in the entire time she’d been here and she’d heard this guy talk a lot. A hell of a lot. Carmilla stumbled down a corridor bathed in the same red light, struggling to keep up as the Major practically dragged her along behind him.

The Major screeched to a halt and stopped a soldier who was running down the corridor in the opposite direction, “What in the name of all that is Holy is going on?”

“Sir!” the soldier stopped and stood at attention.

“At ease, for the love of…speak soldier!” the Major commanded.

“Sir, it’s the power station. It’s…it’s not there anymore. It’s been blown up and, and, and…”

As Carmilla watched the soldier stutter and stammer through his explanation her ears perked up, she swore she could hear a familiar war cry over all the gunfire and shouting. It _was_ the cavalry. Carmilla had no idea how she’d done it, but she knew Laura had to be responsible for the Collective being here. For the first time in Goddess knows how long, she felt something close to relief.

“Spit it out soldier!” the Major bellowed.

“We seem to be under attack from an army of…women.” the soldier finished and waited for the Major’s reaction.

The Major dismissed the solder and looked to Carmilla, “Friends of yours I presume?” he said through gritted teeth as he tightened his grip on her chains.

“No,” Carmilla shook her head, “not friends. My family.”

The Major snarled and continued to drag her down the corridor.

#

Karl looked up from his place on the floor and watched as the ceiling above him shook. He closed his eyes and prayed that his old friend’s LaFontaine and Perry had received his message and were making all the hullabaloo outside. He looked down, Will’s head resting in his lap and moved some hair out his son’s face,

“I am sorry William,” Karl sighed, “For all this mess. You were right. I could have — should have, done more. If I wasn’t such a fool, a lot of this pain could have been avoided.”

Karl was relived, relieved that Will was alive. After they had been slung back into the cells Will had continued to return to the human man he had been before the injection, but without any proper diagnostic equipment it was hard for him to tell if there had been any permanent damage done.

Karl startled as he heard the door that led to the holding cells buzz open. He gently placed Will’s head on the floor and scrambled to his feet. Karl limped over to the front of the cell and glowered as he saw the Major come into view. He was dragging a shackled Carmilla behind him,

“You did this didn’t you Karl?” the Major asked sounding weary and a little desperate, “All this mess, you brought this down on our heads?”

Karl shook his head no, “You brought this on yourself, Richard.”

The Major reached out quickly and grabbed Carmilla. He pulled her in front of him, placing one arm tight round her neck and put his gun to her temple with the other.

Carmilla made a vain attempt to claw at the Major’s forearm, “Fuck you, you sanctimonious, fucking asshole.” Carmilla cursed as she struggled.

“Ssh, shh, shh, Carmilla,” the Major soothed, “I didn’t want it to come to this, but your father has put me in a rather awkward position.” He cocked the hammer on his pistol and dug the muzzle of his gun into Carmilla’s temple. Carmilla stopped struggling and became very still. This asshole was really going to shoot her.

“Wait,” Karl banged his hand against the cell, “just wait.”

“For what Dr Karnstein?” the Major spat, “if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

“The serum. There’s a working version.” Karl hung his head and took a deep breath, “There are four ready-made autoinjectors in a safe in the lab,” he looked up and looked at Carmilla, “the combination, you’ll need Carmilla for the combination.”

The Major looked at him and carefully lowered the hammer on the pistol, “I’m listening,” he loosened his grip on Carmilla slightly, allowing everyone to breathe a little easier.

“The safe will only open to her voice.” Karl paused, “It’ll only open to her singing Edelweiss.”

The Major scoffed whilst Carmilla looked at her dad disbelievingly. Only he would have a secret safe that opened to her singing the stupid song he’d sang her as a lullaby as a kid. Somewhere in the back of her brain, the little voice that had kept her company during her capture piped up that that was technically a showtune. Carmilla looked back as the Major dragged her away from the cells and back towards the lab, her father always had been a stupidly sentimental man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well, well, it looks like the cavalry has finally arrived on the island and Carmilla is going to have to sing to a safe...
> 
> Join me next week when we go backwards to go forwards and find out how the siege of the ark began and Carmilla finally gets to punch that lackwit, Major Asshole, in the face.
> 
> Thanks for sticking with this and commenting. Been enjoying chatting to y'all down there in the comments. I welcome any and all chat!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We go backwards to go forwards and join the crew from Styria City as they sail towards the ark and begin their attempted rescue of Carmilla.
> 
> Meanwhile we pick up with Carmilla and the Major where we left them and more things go boom!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi folks!
> 
> Welcome back. Glad you've stuck with me this far. We're almost in the home stretch! You ready for the storming of the ark? Shall we? Let's...

Laura stood at the stern of the boat and watched Styria City grow smaller and smaller as they left it behind. So, this was it. They were really doing it. They were going to rescue Carmilla.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Danny asked as she approached, two steaming mugs in her hands, “hot chocolate?” Danny offered one of the mugs with an outstretched arm.

Laura looked at her sceptically, Danny made terrible hot chocolate, it was always powdery at the bottom and you never knew when an unexpected un-melted clump would attempt to choke you.

“Perry made it,” Danny clarified as she forced the mug on Laura, “I haven’t even found a bathroom on this freighter yet and somehow Perry has found the kitchen and started making what looks to be a four-course meal. Whilst wearing tactical gear. To feed the five hundred,” Danny muttered as she looked round at all the women milling around on the main deck, “Which is probably a good thing.” It was if Mattie had a direct line to an Amazonian army. Every one of them looked like they’d stepped off the set of a Wonder Woman movie.

Laura laughed distractedly, “Of course Perr’ has.

Danny gave Laura a sympathetic look, she knew that far away gaze on her face well. It meant she was for sure overthinking something, “So, again, penny for your thoughts Hollis?”

“I’m not really thinking about anything,” Laura lied as she took a sip of the hot chocolate. She closed her eyes, savouring the warmth and comfort it brought.

“I can’t believe after all this time, you still think I can’t catch you in a lie instantly.” Danny settled against the side of the boat next to Laura.

“Oh, I know you know I’m lying,” Laura smiled over the lip of the mug, “I just hope sometimes you’ll leave well enough alone.”

“No chance.” Danny bumped her hip against Laura.

Laura sighed, “It’s just, I’m just,” she took a deep breath and tried again, “What if she’s not ok Danny? What if we’re too late?”

“Nope, not gonna hear it Hollis.” Danny shook her head, “There is no way that stubborn girlfriend of yours upped and died before she got to see you again. I’m pretty sure even if she did die, she’d crawl out of the depths of hell to be by your side.”

As far as pep talks went, it wasn’t Danny’s best, but it made Laura sputter out a small laugh none the less, “Hell, huh?”

“Karnstein isn’t going to heaven, Laura. You know that as well as I do.” Danny tried to look serious, “I mean, can you see her with a little halo and wings, she’d be all like ‘Pfft, there’s not enough leather up here’ before snarking off to hell on her own accord.”

“Yeah, ok, you’re not wrong,” Laura laughed harder, “and I so have to get you to do that impression in front of her. I forgot how on the money it is.”

“Never,” Danny refused half seriously, “that’s just for me and you.”

They fell into a companionable silence, watching the water as the propeller on the boat churned it into frothy waves.

“Thank you,” Laura said after a while.

“Perry made the hot chocolate, I just delivered it.” Danny said even though she knew that wasn’t what Laura meant.

Laura punched Danny on the arm lightly, “No, dumbass, for coming with me. You didn’t have to.”

“Ow and this is how you repay me.” Danny rubbed her arm and acted like it hurt way more than it actually did,

For the first time in a very long time Danny realised she could stand to be held by Laura’s direct gaze and not burn with some sort of guilt or shame. Their relationship had shifted again. What had started that night a year go on the back of an ambulance had solidified. They had moved beyond simply friends, beyond lovers. They were something else now. Danny didn’t have a name for it, didn’t know if she even wanted to name it, but she knew she’d protect it with her life if necessary.

“I know I didn’t have to come,” Danny offered, “but you and Karnstein don’t have a great track record when it comes to getting yourselves out of a tight spot.”

Laura opened her mouth to argue and found that a quick mental tally did in fact prove Danny right. Danny had saved both their asses now on several occasions across the years.

“Plus,” Danny continued as she jokingly popped the collar on her sleeveless leather jacket, “where else do I get to wear this cool outfit and take on a rogue army?”

Laura smiled and shook her head, that was a Kirsch move if ever she saw one, “What’s this I hear about you and Kirsch being in love?” Laura teased.

Danny blushed and let out a small groan, “He has the biggest mouth.”

“That’s what she said,” Laura said in a goofy voice that may or may not have been her attempt at imitating Kirsch. If Danny had a good Carmilla impression, Laura figured it was the least she could do to develop a Kirsch one.

“Ugh, Hollis,” Danny buried her head in her hands, “that doesn’t even make sense.”

Laura laughed like she hadn’t in weeks and smugly finished her hot chocolate.

As they sailed towards the co-ordinates they had been gifted, the final plan was cemented and everyone was given their role. They would wait for the cover of darkness and take the boat close, but not close enough to the island it would be spotted. Then two teams would swim to shore and sneak through the trees towards the ark. Danny was to go with Mel, Mattie and some of the Collective. Their initial mission was to cut the electricity to the island,

“If the electricity on the island is disrupted,” LaFontaine explained, “everyone is a) in the dark - giving us the advantage of surprise and b) all the security doors are nullified. We’ll be able to get to where we need to go without worrying about locked doors.”

Laura, LaFontaine and Perry and the rest of Mattie’s warriors were to head to the other side of the island, where the main building containing the containment cells were. Their main job was to find Carmilla and get her back to the boat safely.

“What will I do?” Kirsch asked.

“Keep the engine running Beefparade,” Mel replied, slapping a friendly hand on Kirsch’s shoulder, “you’re our only way out of here.”

Mattie stepped forward and spoke to Kirsch directly, “When the power to the island cuts, bring the boat as close to shore as you can safely. There’s no telling what our casualty numbers will be, we may not be able to swim back. You’ll need to shuttle us with the dinghies.”

Kirsch nodded, “Understood.” He could do that. He could totally do that.

“Some of my team will stay behind with you and protect the boat if necessary.” Mattie confirmed.

“Cool.” Kirsch breathed a sigh of relief. It was totally cool that some of the warrior babes would be staying behind. That was definitely a good thing.

“We’ll be approaching the drop point shortly,” Perry advised, “everyone make sure you’ve got everything you need packed in your dry sacks for the swim to shore.”

The meeting dispersed and everyone went about their final preparations.

“So, um, D-bear?” Kirsch stuttered as he approached Danny. He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

“No.” Danny replied as she made sure her quiver and all the arrows she needed were packed safely into her bag. Danny frowned, in amongst the familiar blue, pink and white arrows was a random red arrow. The hell did that one do? She would need to check with LaFontaine.

“No?” Kirsch repeated confused.

Danny packed her hood, jacket and bracer, “No, Wilson. We aren’t doing some big goodbye like in the climactic scene of an action movie where the hero kisses the romantic lead before going off to be recklessly heroic.”

“We aren’t?” Kirsch asked, again he was confused. Did that make Danny the hero in this situation and him the babe? He was a babe. He knew this. He had no problem being the babe here. But Danny was also a babe. She was also a hero… Was he not supposed to wish her good luck and tell her he loved her?

Danny finally stood and gave her full attention to Kirsch, “I’ll be back before you know it. No reckless heroics.” She gave him a quick kiss and went back to making sure she had everything she needed. She was starting to get nervous and, of course, it was easier just to pretend there was absolutely nothing to be getting nervous about instead of voicing her concern.

Kirsch crouched so he was on the same level as Danny and placed his hand on her shoulder to regain her attention, “Danielle,” he said softly.

Danny turned quickly, a little shocked that Kirsch had called her by her full name, she hadn’t even realised he knew what her full first name was.

Kirsch smiled, totally proud of himself for rendering Danny speechless for once. It wasn’t exactly an easy thing to do. He tilted her chin up gently with his finger and kissed her soundly, “I’ll see you when you get back, I love you.” He said before standing and walking away.

Danny sat flabbergasted for a moment before remembering herself and yelling, “I love you too jackass!” at Kirsch’s receding figure.

#

The swim to shore had gone well. If by well you understood that the Collective made it to shore without any hassle and Laura, Danny, LaFontaine and Perry thought they were going to die on at least several occasions. It was a lot further than they’d anticipated and Laura for one was not the best swimmer in the world. A fact she probably should have made known before they entered into the freezing sea in the middle of the gosh darn night. In the end they all made it safely though and that was the main thing. That and helping Laura hack up a healthy amount of sea water once they were back on dry land. The two groups had wished each other good luck and gone their separate ways, agreeing to meet at the main building of the ark before heading back to the freighter. Hopefully with Carmilla in tow.

Mel and Mattie, flanked by Danny, led their group stealthily through the tree line and towards the power station. Mel was slightly concerned, she knew Mattie must be too, any guard station or look out they had encountered so far was conspicuously empty. That could mean the island wasn’t as well guarded as they thought or it could mean that the soldiers were all concentrated round the areas they needed access to. Maybe if they were lucky it would turn out the truth was somewhere in the middle.

Mattie gave the signal to hunker down before pulling out some binoculars. She gestured to Mel and the rest of the group that she could see several guards patrolling outside the power station, that seemed a little more like what they had expected. Mattie gathered her group into a tight circle and began handing out small explosive charges,

“Whoever gets the chance to get inside, place some of these little buggers. Press the button in the middle to arm them and run. That should see to it that the power for the island is done for.”

Everyone nodded their understanding and pocketed their charges.

They begin to sneak forward again. Mel indicated that there were two guards stood with their backs to them up ahead. She crept close and smashed their heads together like coconuts, knocking them unconscious and softly lowering them to the ground.

As Mel stood facing the group, wiping her hands in a smug and satisfied fashion, a crunch of leaves under boots drew Danny’s attention. Shit, she spied a guard coming upon them that Mel clearly hadn’t. Suddenly Danny’s senses sharpened until she was sure she could make out every leaf on every tree around her. Quickly she notched a taser arrow and let it fly. The arrow flew past Mel, glancing her cheek, before hitting its target. The soldier went down quickly and quietly.

Mel looked at Danny, then behind her at the twitching soldier on the ground. Her facial expressions ran the gamut between shocked and relieved, before settling on plain impressed. She definitely had to speak to LaFontaine about getting herself some arrows made like that. Hell, she had to speak to Danny about where she’d picked up her archery skills. Lawrence could probably teach their new recruits a thing or two.

After dispatching some more guards without too much trouble, the group had snuck as close as they could to the power station without making themselves known. Mattie positioned herself behind Danny, tapping her on the shoulder and giving her the thumbs up to proceed. Danny nodded and pulled an explosive arrow from her quiver. She aimed it deliberately high, ensuring that it would land on the other side of the power station before exploding and announcing their presence.

Mattie told the group to hold whilst they watched a group of soldiers run around the other side of the building to check out the source of the explosion. As soon as they were out of view, Mattie gave the signal and they charged. She rammed the palm of her hand into the nose of the first soldier that stepped in her way. As he stumbled backwards in pain, blood streaming down his face, Mattie disarmed him, swiftly ejecting the clip from his rifle before turning it in her hands and slamming the butt into his stomach. As he jack-knifed in pain, Mattie tipped her head back and let out a mighty battle cry.

From then on out, it was war.

**Meanwhile on the other side of the island...**

Laura, LaFontaine, Perry and their group hid out in the shadows behind some stationary vehicles, hunkering down a safe distance from the main building. There was no way in hell they were getting anywhere near the ark without the distraction of the power going out. Floodlights lit the immediate area surrounding the entrance and soldiers swarmed the area.

Laura was vibrating with nervous energy, “Come on, come on.” She whispered under her breath. She unholstered the lil’ stubby and cocked the hammer on it, readying a blast.

“They won’t let us down dear,” Perry turned her head and offered as soothingly as she could from her position crouched in front of Laura.

Suddenly explosions could be heard from the other side of the island. LaFontaine grabbed Laura by the collar of her jacket and stopped her from lunging into action too soon, “Wait for it, wait for it, wait,” they cautioned. When the power finally flickered out, LaFontaine released Laura and patted her on the back of her hood, “Showtime.”

The group sprang forward from their hiding place. Laura fired her gun and blew a small group of soldiers out their path, allowing Mattie’s warriors to advance. She dove behind some barrels and cocked the hammer again. Whilst waiting for the gun to charge Laura ducked her head and tried her best to not get shot. Bullets were zipping past her like demented little demon gnats.

“Hollis! A little help!”

Laura looked in the direction of the yelling and saw LaFontaine crouched protectively over Perry, they were pinned down. She took aim and easily cleared the attacking soldiers.

That was two shots gone. Laura had to remember the gun only had five blasts in it. She had to make them count. Holstering her gun, Laura drew her baseball bat and stomped towards where Mattie’s warriors had the majority of the soldiers occupied in close combat. No one was stopping her from getting inside. No one was stopping her from getting to Carmilla.

Laura made sure to keep one eye on LaF and Perry. She watched as they deftly cut a path through the soldiers and followed closely behind them. Laura swung her bat with little to no discrimination. She had said it herself, they were going to have to crack a few skulls. Every swing that made contact and moved a soldier out her path was one step closer to Carmilla.

As they reached the main door to the ark, Laura holstered her bat and lent forward on her knees. She breathed deeply and tried to fill her lungs with air, her arms were aching as lactic acid pumped its way round her body. Laura watched on with wonder as Mattie’s warriors continued to fight. They had no quit in them.

“Ok,” LaFontaine yelled over the battle, “she should be here,” they pointed at a map of the ark on a tablet they’d pulled from their bag.

“Let’s go get our girl!” Laura yelled as she yanked open the heavy door, readying herself for whatever may stand in their way.

#

The Major stared, utterly dumbfounded, at the safe. It was just a normal safe with a dial lock, nothing unusual or special about it in any way,

“It would appear Dr Karnstein told a fib in order to save your life Carmilla.” the Major tutted.

For a weird moment, Carmilla was relieved she didn’t actually have to sing. I mean, signing or death, it wasn’t really a difficult decision. She had a fine voice, she just didn’t like performing in public, per say.

The Major shoved her towards the safe, “You must know the combination.”

“Must I?” Carmilla drawled, as she regained her footing.

Raising his gun and levelling it between Carmilla’s eyes, the Major growled, “Not the time for your smart mouth, why don’t you,” he made the motion with his hand of moving the dial, “give it a whirl.”

Carmilla screwed up her face at the Major’s poor attempt at a joke. She leaned forward and looked at the dial lock, maybe if she stared at it long enough the combination would just come to her. Carmilla huffed her hair out her face, no, apparently not. She reached out and tried the obvious, her and Will’s birthday, nope it wasn’t that. Her father’s own birthday maybe, it wasn’t that either.

The Major clicked back the hammer on his pistol impatiently.

Carmilla rolled her eyes, she was really sick of this dimwit. If he was going to shoot her, he should really just get on with it. Ok, the next logical set of numbers to try was her mother’s birthday. The first number she turned the dial to, gave a satisfying click. Carmilla carefully turned the dial to the next number – again it clicked. So, her mother’s birthday it was. Of course. Her hand shook a little as she turned it to the third and final number, unsure what the Major’s reaction was going to be. Before Carmilla could reach for the safe handle, the Major elbowed her out of the way and took her place. Carmilla stumbled backwards and almost fell on her ass.

The Major laughed, a full big belly laugh, as he stared at the open safe, “For once, it looks like your father was telling the truth.” He snatched up the four autoinjectors. His eyes gleamed maniacally.

Carmilla watched the Major carefully. Suddenly her path to freedom became glaringly apparent. If her father had only four doses and had kept them locked away in a secret safe, it seemed to her that it was likely this was the real deal. The real serum. She was weak, she was tired and she had barely any fight left in her. Carmilla needed a boost.

Before he remembered she was still there, Carmilla took all the remaining strength she had and whipped the chain still attached to her wrists round the Major’s arm. She tugged, sending the autoinjectors skittering across the lab floor. Carmilla pushed her tired legs past their limit, launching herself towards the nearest one and scooped it up. Tucking and rolling, she hid behind some lab equipment as the Major let off a blind and frustrated burst of gunfire. She cringed, there was a lot of explosive and flammable stuff in this lab, shooting off his gun all willy nilly was going to get them both killed. As if thinking about it tempted fate, Carmilla heard a boom from across the lab and smelt the unmistakable acrid stench of a chemical fire.

Biting the cap off the autoinjector Carmilla took a deep breath and plunged it into her leg, she closed her eyes and hoped she hadn’t just don’t something incredibly stupid. Her heart began to beat faster, her body felt like it was tingling all over, it was beginning to feel like her veins were full of lightning. Carmilla cautiously opened her eyes and looked at her hands, they still seemed the same as they ever were, her legs and feet didn’t look like they had grown, her skin remained the same pale complexion. It seemed like this serum was in fact, the real deal. No monstrous transformation, just pure energy. Carmilla felt strength seep back in to her limbs, her mind became sharper, her hearing more sensitive, she felt more like herself than she had in a long time.

“Well, that was a rush.” Carmilla muttered, she looked at the cuffs that had bound her wrists for weeks now and pulled, they snapped like weak pieces of string. She tossed the cuffs and picked up the chain of the shackles, wrapping it round both her fists and creating a thick garrotte. Carmilla peeked her head out from her hiding place and saw the Major searching for her. Before he could get the drop on her, Carmilla snuck up behind him, wrapped the chain around his neck and pulled as tight as she could.

The Major thrashed wildly as he tried to shake Carmilla loose. This just encouraged her to hold on tighter, if she took his head off then so be it. Carmilla had been so intent on throttling the asshole who had held her captive, she didn’t notice that the Major still held one of the autoinjectors, nor did she notice when he plunged it into his thigh. No, the first indication that Carmilla had that something was going wrong with her plan was when the Major’s weedy neck grew so thick the chain she was choking him with snapped. Before she could quite wrap her mind round that, the Major had reached behind to grab her and tossed her over his shoulder with all his newfound might.

Carmilla curled into a ball as she smashed into all manner of lab equipment, glass shattered and metal dented as Carmilla became what amounted to a human wrecking ball. She was vaguely aware of another explosion somewhere in the lab as the fire continued its dangerous spread. Carmilla tumbled to her feet, shook the glass out her hair and looked up. Through the smoke and fire, she could see the Major crouch down and pick another autoinjector up out of the rubble. Oh no. No, he wouldn’t.

The Major uncapped the autoinjector, “Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”

Carmilla felt around on the floor until she found a suitable sized projectile and launched it at the Major.

“I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without —" The Major choked off his sentence as something struck him in the Adam’s apple. His eyes bugged out as he coughed and grasped at his throat.

Carmilla smiled smugly, she’d been dying to shut the asshole up from the moment she’d first heard him speak. Then there was the added bonus of him also dropping the serum. Carmilla raced across the room and kicked it out of his reach. She ducked backwards under his swinging arm, her shoulder touching the lab floor before she sprung back up into a ready fighting stance.

The Major threw a punch, she dodged it, Carmilla tried to parry, he blocked. It was like that time she fought Will in the old Styrian church, no one could quite get the upper hand. They went on like this for a good few minutes until they both had to stop and regroup. Carmilla staggered backwards, the smoke from the fire was getting thicker and it was getting harder to breath. She threw her forearm over her eyes as another explosion erupted, the light from the blast almost blinding her. This one seemed to shake the foundation of the building. The whole place was going to come down around them.

As the floor shook and rattled one of the remaining autoinjectors rolled into view. They both saw it at the same time. The Major lunged as Carmilla threw herself towards the injector. He was just that little bit faster. If Carmilla had moved just a fraction of a second quicker, she wouldn’t be watching the Major snatch up the serum. Before Carmilla could stop him, he jammed it into his neck.

The Major fell to his knees and began to shake as his eyes rolled back in his head and veins began popping out all over his body. As he gurgled and flailed, Carmilla saw this as the distraction she needed to escape. There was no way in frilly hell she was sticking around to find out what happened next. What the fuck he was about to mutate into. She sidestepped the writhing figure of the Major and sprinted for the exit. Carmilla dodged falling debris as she picked her way across the lab. As she ducked to avoid a swinging electrical cable, the sound of twisting metal filled Carmilla’s ears. She winced and looked up to see the metal walkway that was suspended above the lab swaying. She had just enough time to throw her arms over her head in a vague attempt at protection before it came crashing down towards her. Carmilla’s last thought was, ‘Well, shit’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Well, shit', indeed huh?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ark has been stormed, but can Laura find Carmilla and is she still in one piece?
> 
> Shall we? Let's...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one week? Whaaaat. Y'all have been so awesome that I figured I wouldn't drag it out for another week and you could have the penultimate chapter now. Enjoy.

“This way,” LaFontaine darted down a corridor, following the map on their tablet, “the door to the holding cells should be right—"

Perry ran into the back of LaFontaine as Laura ran into the back of her. They untangled themselves from each other and stared at the reason LaFontaine had come to an abrupt halt. The heavy security door that led the way to the holding cells was bent and buckled in such a fashion that it had become jammed and likely unmovable.

“Well that’s a bother.” Perry muttered, “As is that,” she pointed, tapping at LaFontaine’s shoulder urgently as a group of soldiers rounded the corner and began advancing towards them.

“Oh, fudge this,” Laura cocked her gun and blasted the soldiers back down the hall, “and fudge that.” She cocked the lil stubby again, waited for it to charge and blasted the door to the holding cells right off its hinges. That was shots three and four, Laura holstered her gun and strode purposefully forward, closely followed by LaFontaine and Perry.

Laura looked around the dim holding area frantically. She could see two cells, one was occupied by two male figures and the other sat empty. Her heart sank. No Carmilla.

“LaFontaine?” Karl couldn’t believe what he was seeing, he banged on the cell wall to get their attention, “Oh, Lola, it’s so good to see you.”

“Do I know you?” LaFontaine asked, confusion painting their face as they stepped towards the cell.

“Oh my god LaFontaine, it’s Karl.” Perry gasped.

LaFontaine looked between the unrecognisable man in the cell and Perry, “As in my dead best friend, Karl?”

“As in Carmilla’s dad, Karl?” Laura added, she coughed as her voice rose to an unnaturally high register in shock.

Perry nodded, a little dumbfounded. The trio stepped up to the cell door.

“Why is this door still locked?” LaFontaine asked as they pulled the cell door irritably, “the power was cut, all the doors should have been tripped.”

“They have their own power supply.” Karl explained. “Down to the right there.” He pointed.

“I’ve got it,” Laura unholstered her bat and headed for the generator looking thingy she could see in the corner, she swung at it unceremoniously, stepping back as it began to sputter and spark.

“It was you?” LaFontaine stepped forward and yanked the cell door open, successfully this time, “The message? The co-ordinates?”

Karl nods, “All thanks to William’s knowledge.” Karl looked to his son, curled up on the floor, “We have to get him out of here and soon. I don’t know if he can hang on much longer without some proper medical attention. I, I did what I —.”

“I’m sure you did.” Perry stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on Karl’s shoulder, “Let’s see what we can do for him. Make sure he’s stable enough to move.”

“Where’s Carmilla?” Laura looked around frantically as if she’d somehow missed something on her first visual sweep of the cells and Carmilla was going to magically appear.

“If it isn’t Laura Hollis, all grown up,” Karl said, looking up from where he’d crouched next to William. He gave her a warm smile, despite their current circumstances, “Carmilla said you’d come looking for her.”

Laura knelt next to Carmilla’s father, “It’s really great to see you again, sir.” She took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, “Do you know where Carmilla is?”

“The lab,” Karl answered grimly, “the Major took her to the lab.”

A massive explosion rocked the building. 

“LaF give me your tablet,” Laura demanded, standing back up and yanking her hood back over her head.

“Why?” LaFontaine handed their tablet over unsure, there was something in Laura’s tone that made them uneasy.

“I’m going to go get Carmilla,” Laura stated obviously, she tapped at LaF’s tablet and familiarised herself with the route to the lab, “You two get Dr. Karnstein and Will back to the freighter.”

“You can’t go by yourself Laura,” Perry stressed, “It’s too dangerous dear.”

“She’s not going by herself,”

Everyone turned to see Danny, Mel and Mattie marching towards them.

“You three are a sight for sore eyes,” LaFontaine whooped in relief.

“My warriors have cleared out most of the soldiers, there’s a few groups of stragglers left,” Mattie advised, “they’re trying to make their way in here.”

“They’re trying to get to the Major.” Karl frowned, “They’ll protect him until the end.”

“Ok,” Laura holstered her bat, “Mattie, Mel, Danny - help LaF and Perry get through what’s left of those soldiers and get everyone safely back to the boat. I’ll get Carmilla and meet you there.”

“Hollis, that’s a really silly plan. I’m coming with you.” Danny insisted.

Laura thought about arguing for a moment, but decided taking Danny with her was actually a better idea, “Ok.”

“OK?” Danny asked, a little confused, “No argument? No, ‘Danny you have to get yourself out of here, I’m Laura Hollis and I’ll be heroic and throw myself into danger irresponsibly because that’s what I do’.”

Laura cocked her head to the side and gave Danny her best ‘seriously’ glare, “You said it yourself on the boat. I'll probably need you.”

“Well then.” Danny nodded, glad for once she wasn’t going to have to fight this one out with Laura, “Lead the way.”

#

“What in the hell is that?” Danny whisper yelled to Laura as they peered round the door into the lab, or what was left of it at least. The place looked like a hurricane had blown through it. Equipment and machines lay turned over and smashed and the place was largely ablaze.

Through a haze of smoke and fire they could see what looked like a larger than average man, no a man wasn’t quite the right word for what they were looking at. Whatever it was, its skin was a slightly odd shade of blue, it had one grotesquely large arm and its head was all swollen. Its legs were so thick and muscly they look like they belonged to a completely different body. The veins popping out all over it were giving Laura the dry heave. It was clawing through the rubble as if it had lost something. Tossing chunks of wall and whatever behind itself as it dug.

“I’m guessing that might be the Major,” Laura suggested, “judging by what’s left of his uniform.”

Danny took a second look, shit, Hollis was right. She could see the remnants of a uniform clinging in scraps to the mutated figure searching through the debris.

Laura and Danny crept cautiously forward, scanning the room, desperately looking for any sign of Carmilla,

“Do you see her anywhere?” Laura whispered to Danny, the longer they could remain undetected by Major Monster, the better.

“I can barely see shit,” Danny hissed, “she could be anywhere in here.”

Suddenly the monster, the Major, whatever it was — tossed a large sheet of metal out of its way and paused. Jesus, was it laughing? Is that what that sound was? Danny and Laura ducked behind an overturned metal table. They peeked out over the top and watched as The Major roared, lifting an unmoving Carmilla from the rubble by her throat.

“Carm, no!” Laura yelled giving away their hiding place.

Danny wiped her hand over her face in frustration. She had been right not to let Laura come on her own. Before she could formulate a plan of action, Hollis had sprung out from behind the table and tumbled into the path of danger. The Major turned and began to lumber towards Laura, never letting go of Carmilla’s throat. He carried her like she was nothing but an afterthought. Danny dreaded to think what would happen if he got a hold of Laura also.

Laura unholstered her gun, cocked the hammer and paused. Time slowed to a crawl whilst she waited for that damn indicator to flash green. Her eyes went from Carm’s limp body to the Major’s grotesque face, trying to figure out the best way to hit her target without also hurting Carmilla. The indicator flashed green, Laura aimed a little off mark and with a shaking hand, pulled the trigger. The Major pushed off with his tree trunk legs and leapt easily out the way of the blast.

Danny grabbed Laura by the scruff of the neck and hauled her behind some rubble so they could regroup.

“Danny, please tell me you’ve got some fire power left.”, Laura panted anxiously, she cocked the hammer on the lil stubby repeatedly to no effect, her gun was dead. That had been her fifth shot. Her final shot. Crap. She holstered the gun and looked over expectantly to where Danny was crouched.

“I’ve got one arrow left but I have no idea what it does.” Danny pulled the arrow from her quiver and looked at it questioningly. It was the lone arrow with red fletching. She never got the chance to ask LaFontaine what it did.

“I’m going to draw his attention. When you have a clear shot, fire!” Laura watched in horror as the Major squeezed Carmilla’s neck. He didn’t seem to bothered by their presence any longer, all his attention was focused on ending Carmilla.

Danny nocked the arrow and watched as Laura ran straight towards danger as if it was nothing. Again. Like it wasn’t the opposite of what any of them should be doing right now. Like Danny fully knew she would. Taking a deep breath, Danny squared her feet, drew the bowstring back and squinted through the smoke. It was going to be a miracle if she hit anything. She waited until she spotted a flash of blue exit her line of fire. Feeling the familiar squeeze and strain in her shoulder blades, Danny muttered “C’mon, c’mon, turn you big ugly bastard.”

Finally, Laura pulled the Major’s attention, his head turning and giving Danny the perfect target. She let her breath out slowly and thought, ‘please be something useful’. Her fingers let go of the bowstring, it satisfyingly snapped forward and the arrow sailed through the air.

Danny’s arrow exploded upon contact with the Major’s face like a car airbag. Was that? No way. Danny was dumbfounded. A bright red boxing glove had sprung forth from the arrow and knocked the asshole out cold. His grip on Carmilla loosened and they both tumbled to the ground.

Laura skidded to a halt and ran back to where Carmilla lay, sprawled lifeless on the ground. Laura fell on to her knees and pulled Carmilla into her lap,

“Carm, Carm?!” Laura shook her girlfriend, “You stupid vigilante, you better not be dead so I can yell at you for almost dying.”

Carmilla coughed and took in a heaving breath, “Hey Cutie,” Carmilla choked out, still trying to fill her lungs with air, “nice outfit.”

Laura let out a sigh of relief, “Hey,” she half laughed, half sobbed cradling Carmilla’s face in her hands, “I think you know my tailor.” Laura slid her hood down and placed a gentle, trembling kiss to Carmilla’s lips. Laura tried to put all the love in her tiny, gay body into that kiss.

Danny cleared her throat, “Laura, we need to get the hell out of here.” As if to illustrate her point, a massive part of the ceiling chose that moment to collapse on the other side of the lab.

Carmilla looked up at the red hooded figure towering above her and Laura, “Lawrence? Is that you?”

Danny pulled her hood down and removed her mask, “Hey Karnstein.”

Carmilla broke out into a hearty laugh, “Is LaFontaine outfitting half the city now?” Her laughing choked off into a cough as smoke filled her lungs.

“I told you she would be an asshole about this.” Danny grumbled as she helped Laura get Carmilla to her feet.

“Do you have names yet?” Carmilla looked between Laura and Danny as they supported her weight and started picking their way through the destruction, “Please tell me Danny’s is something like the Crimson Giant. No, no, wait, is it Broadzilla?” 

“That’s two you owe me now.” Danny stated flatly. It was nice to see captivity hadn’t dulled Carmilla’s sharp wit.

“I know Lawrence, I know.” Carmilla said sincerely and paused, “Wait, is it the Scarlett Crusader?”

“Look, I don’t hear Laura getting shit right now about what her name is.” Danny protested, “And I will happily leave your ass in this rubble if you continue.”

“Oh, don’t bring me into this.” Laura rolled her eyes and smiled at Danny, “You can tell her my first attempt at coming up with a name for myself if you want.” She figured she owed Danny that at least.

Danny perked up instantly and enthusiastically filled Carmilla in about Lil’ Stubby as they limped to safety, exiting the ark and joining the rest of their rag tag group on the shore. Perry and the healers from the Collective were tending to the wounded, whilst everyone else was milling around decompressing in the wake of the battle. Laura noted they were even tending to the Major’s soldiers.

Carmilla spotted a familiar figure, “Mattie!” she cried, happy to see her mentor.

Laura let Carmilla go reluctantly and let Matska embrace her. She decided to give them a moment and wandered off in Perry’s direction to see if she could be of any help. Danny peeled off and started looking round for Kirsch.

“Hello you little monster,” Mattie said as she held Carmilla tightly, “Look at the mess you got yourself into this time.”

Carmilla huffed a small, self-deprecating laugh, “A mess is one way to put it,” She squeezed Mattie, “Thank you for coming to get me.”

“Once a part of my family, always a part of my family.” Mattie leaned back but didn’t let go of Carmilla fully, “I get the felling you’ve met your match with that one,” Mattie nodded in Laura’s direction, “and she her match in you.”

Carmilla turned and saw Laura starting to help Perry co-ordinate everyone back towards the freighter, “Yeah, she’s pretty damn great.”

“Worth leaving us for in the end?” Mattie asked teasingly.

“What, no,” Carmilla stuttered, “that wasn’t why I left.”

Mattie simply raised an eyebrow in response.

“Ok,” Carmilla grumbled, “but she wasn’t the whole reason.”

Mattie chuckled, “And your father, he’s alive?” she asked beaming as she held Carmilla at arm’s length by the shoulders.

“Yeah. That was a surprise.” Carmilla looked to where her father stood talking animatedly to LaFontaine, it was so strange to see them after all this time stood together and chatting like no time had passed.

“Look at you old friend,” Karl said feeling a little emotional, in the years since he’d seen LaFontaine they had transformed into the person they always spoke about wanting to be, “You look so much like yourself.”

LaFontaine smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, there’s a lot to catch you up on.”

“Did you two finally…?” Karl trailed off and looked in Perry’s direction, watching as she made sure William was secured in a makeshift stretcher to get him safely on to the boat.

“Stop pretending that we were best friends and instead were life partners?” LaFontaine offered as an end to Karl’s sentence, “Yeah. We totally did that.” They held up their hand to show off their simple wedding band, “We raised your daughter for you too. No need to thank us.”

Karl smiled broadly, tears prickling at the corner of his eyes, “You did a fantastic job. I couldn’t have picked two better people.”

LaFontaine grimaced half seriously, “Well, don’t heap too much praise on us, we did lose her for eight years and thought she was dead for a bit.”

Karl’s eyes widened in shock.

“Yeah, as I said, a lot to catch you up on.” LaFontaine slapped Karl on the back and steered him towards Perry and Will. They passed Mel and Danny on their way.

“Good job out there Lawrence.” Mel said, looking Danny up and down as she praised her, “thank you for the save at the power plant.

Danny shrugged, “It was nothing you wouldn’t have done for me.”

Mel held her hand out in friendship and smiled as Danny shook it, “You should come stay with us some time. I think you’d dig it.”

Danny was about to say she probably would when she finally spotted Kirsch, “I, um, excuse me.” Danny took off at full pelt, leaving Mel behind. She leapt into Kirsch’s arms and kissed him, kinda like when the hero of an action movie is reunited with the romantic lead at the end of the film after the big dumb heroics. She didn’t even mind when he spun her around a little and kept placing kisses all over her face.

“Hold up D-Bear,” Kirsch placed Danny back on solid ground, “cover your ears,” he said before putting his fingers between his lips and letting out an ear-piercing whistle, “Let’s get this show on the road!” He yelled and threw his thumb back towards the freighter. “I’ve got a shift at the bar in 24 hours,” he shrugged as an explanation to the look Danny was giving him.

Danny slapped Kirsch playfully, threw an arm round his shoulder and let him steer her towards the boat.

**The End**

**…or is it…**

After what could only be described as an exercise in herding cats, everyone was aboard that needed to be aboard and the freighter was finally ready to set sail for Styria City.

Carmilla sat on a box at the stern of the boat. Laura stood behind her, staring back as the freighter slowly made its retreat from the island.

“So, wait, it wasn’t Laura who got a hold of Mattie and Mel? It was the fake me?” Carmilla asked confused.

“In a roundabout way, she did us all a favour.” Perry confirmed.

“Huh. Remind me to give her a raise.”

Perry nodded as she pumped up the blood pressure cuff she had wrestled around Carmilla's arm and tried to stop her ward from squirming so much.

“Perry, quit fussing,” Carmilla tried to swat at Perry’s hands as she examined her, “I’m fine.”

“Carmilla,” LaFontaine and Karl cautioned at the same time.

“Woah,” Laura laughed as she turned back to face the group, “Stereo Dad’s.”

Carmilla smiled as she looked up at Laura and then back to her guardians and her dad, her heart felt full. Her face fell slightly as she looked to where Will lay, comfortably bundled up in a makeshift bed, across the deck, “Is he…?”

Perry turned to follow Carmilla’s eye line, “We don’t know.” She said gently, “Until we can run some proper tests we won’t know what the faulty serum did to him.”

“But he’s breathing,” Karl added, “that’s the main thing.”

LaFontaine gave Karl a comforting one-armed hug.

“We don’t know what that serum did to you either,” Perry fretted and set to checking Carmilla’s vitals again.

Before Carmilla could assure everyone, she was fine, again. Kirsch interrupted,

“Hey, hey, hey. Do you hear that?” Kirsch asked as he passed the group, walking slowly towards the back of the boat.

“What?” LaFontaine asked. That boy really did have impeccable hearing.

“THAT!” Kirsch yelled pointing back towards the island.

They all turned to see the monstrous figure of the Major lumbering from the tree line. He sloshed clumsily into the sea and began heading determinedly towards the boat.

“Can he swim in that condition?” Perry wondered aloud.

“I don’t think I want to find out.” Lafontaine answered.

“Hey Hollis!” Danny yelled from the opposite side of the deck. She still had one of Mattie’s little explosive charges left from their storming of the power station, “Batter up!” Danny smashed the activation button and pitched the charge in Laura’s direction.

Laura unholstered her bat and swung with all her might. There was an almighty crack as the bat made contact with the charge, sending it sailing straight towards the Major. He let loose an almighty howl and everyone looked on, silently dumbfounded, as the charge landed snugly in his gaping maw.

Everyone turned away, satisfied that the ensuing boom meant the Major wasn’t going to be a problem any longer. Everyone except Carmilla. Carmilla watched. She watched as what once had been the Major choked on the charge before his head exploded into a million tiny pieces that scattered and sank to the ocean floor.

And that was how Laura ‘Tiny Nerd’ Hollis earned herself a new nickname from Wilson Kirsch. That was the day she became 'Homerun Hollis'.

**A little later on...**

Laura helped Carmilla limp towards the quiet corner on the main deck she had sequestered for them. She had made a suitable nest out of the thick and cosy blankets Perry had seen fit to stock the boat with. Laura lowered herself down into them before gently bringing Carmilla in to her arms. She bundled a blanket around them and finally felt herself begin to relax.

Carmilla frowned, “Talk to me Cupcake, for someone who was just a big damn hero, you look real sad.”

Laura smiled and shook her head, “No, I’m happy, honestly. How couldn’t I be?” Tears pooled at the corner of her eyes and she buried her face in Carmilla’s hair in an attempt to stop them falling, “It’s just losing you once was bad enough, I couldn’t stand it if I lost you again.”

“Hey,” Carmilla grabbed at Laura’s elbow, “Laura, I’m here, you didn’t lose me.” She shook Laura lightly in an attempt to get her to look at her again.

“I know,” Laura lifted her head and looked Carmilla in the eye, “I’m just being silly. The last few months have been…”

“Exhausting?” Carmilla suggested, with a watery smile.

Laura nodded and sniffed.

“Did you miss me?” Carmilla asked quietly. She knew the answer, of course she did, but she asked anyway.

“Like someone cut a hole in me.” Laura sighed heavily.

Carmilla looked up into Laura’s eyes. Yeah, she knew what that felt like. Goddess she’d missed her girlfriend. Although something about that word didn’t fit anymore. Laura was so much more. Carmilla’s gaze fell from Laura’s eyes to her lips, she really, really wanted to kiss her, kiss away all the hurt and—

“Is that a scar on your lip?” Carmilla frowned as she reached up and ran her thumb along Laura’s bottom lip softly. All thoughts about kissing flew out her head as suddenly she was filled with concern and the urge to punch whatever had hurt Laura.

Laura kissed the pad of Carmilla’s thumb and sighed again, “Yeah, I kind of took your kidnapping badly. I possibly went looking for a fight at any given opportunity.”

“I wouldn’t have expected anything less,” Carmilla shook her head, “Although next time, maybe do more fighting with your words, less with your fists and your face.” Finally, she leaned up and kissed Laura sweetly.

“Next time?” Laura broke the kiss, failing to hide the alarm in her voice. She knew Carmilla was joking, but even the thought of a next time set her heart hammering with anxiety.

“Sssh,” Carmilla ran a hand comfortingly through Laura’s hair, tucking some stray hair behind her ear, “poor choice of words. I’m a little worn out.”

“You do need to get some rest.” Laura agreed.

“What about you, Cutie? I think you earned some shut eye.” Carmilla left a trail of reassuring kisses across Laura’s cheeks and over her jaw, before settling comfortably, her face burrowed into the hollow between Laura’s neck and collarbone. She breathed deep. Under the stench of the fight, of smoke and sweat, she could smell Laura and that felt pretty much like home.

“I’m going to hold you tight and watch you without blinking to make sure you don’t go anywhere ever again.” Laura placed a kiss to the crown of Carmilla’s head and squeezed her gently for emphasis.

Carmilla huffed a small laugh, “I love you Laura Hollis.” She closed her eyes and heard Laura’s whispered ‘I love you too’ as she drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The boxing glove punch is dedicated to reader JMcDonald (who commented they wanted a punch dedicated to them). That one's for you!
> 
> Join me next week for the wrapping up of the thing and some possible bonus reunion smut...


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's back home safe and sound and settling back in to life in Styria City.

Three weeks after their return to Styria City, Carmilla found her father stood in the library one evening, peering curiously at the family photos that hung the length of one wall. She lent on the door frame and cleared her throat to make her presence known.

Karl startled a little, “Just taking a walk down memory lane.” He chuckled awkwardly and put his hands in his pockets.

“It’s your library,” Carmilla stated plainly, “you don’t have to explain to me what you’re doing in it.”

Carmilla watched closely as her father looked round the library and didn’t reply. Even though the room had hardly changed since the last time he stepped foot in it, save for the large collection of feminist and lgbtq+ literature that filed one corner, he looked so awkward and out of place. It broke Carmilla’s heart to see him feel like a stranger in his own home.

Karl hummed thoughtfully as he pointed to one of the pictures that hung on the wall, “You know, it’s been so long since I saw his face, I’d sort of forgotten what it looked like.”

Carmilla stepped into the room and looked at the picture her father was pointing at. It was a wedding photo of himself and her mother.

“Her face, I’d never forget.” He said sadly, “I am sorry that it was me and not her that survived. She never would have let things get so…out of hand.”

“You really need to stop apologising.” Carmilla sighed.

“I have so much to apologise for.” Karl’s shoulders slumped, “For hiding and pretending I was dead, for separating you and William in the first place and what that lead to.” Karl shook his head and sighed, “For everything you both went through—".

“Dad. Please.” Carmilla wanted to reach out and comfort him in some way but wasn’t sure the best way to do so.

“Sorry.”

Carmilla huffed out a little laugh, “You don’t have to be sorry for being sorry either. We, Will and I and you,” Carmilla pointed between her father and herself, “all have a lot of stuff we’re going to have to unpack. Probably with the help of a professional. It won’t all happen at once and it won’t all get resolved neatly. But we care enough to try and that’s all that matters.”

Karl nodded his head, his eyes a little wet, “How did you end up so wise, so young?”

“I made my own mistakes,” Carmilla shrugged, “Big ones that took big people to forgive me.”

“Yes, I heard everyone thought you were dead too for a while too.”

Karl smirked and Carmilla was reminded just exactly where she and Will had inherited that particular trait from. She reddened, rubbing the back of her neck, a little embarrassed, “That’s a long story.” The clock in the hallway chimed midnight, “For another night.”

“Yes, I do want to hear it though.” Karl stepped forward awkwardly and hesitated, he still hadn’t got the hang of just being able to hug his daughter when he wanted to. Carmilla thankfully took pity on him and stepped into his open arms.

“I love you.” Carmilla said, yawning against her father’s chest.

Karl stroked Carmilla’s hair, “I love you too Liebling.” He placed a soft kiss to her crown, “I think I’m going to stay and look at the photos for a little longer.”

Carmilla nodded, wished her father a good night and headed up the stairs to where Laura was waiting for her. It would appear that while she was gone, Laura had pretty much moved in and that, was alright by Carmilla. She had asked after all.

#

Carmilla blinked fully awake just in time to hear a frustrated huff come from the other side of the bed. The mattress shook as Laura turned for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

“You ok Sweetheart?” Carmilla asked, “You’ve been tossing and turning all night.” She turned on her side so she could look at Laura.

“Crap, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I was having a... weird dream.” Laura huffed. She pulled her arms out from under the covers and let them flop on top of the comforter in exasperation.

“A nightmare?” Carmilla asked concerned, she reached for Laura’s hand.

“Not quite.” Laura stared at the ceiling. The feeling of Carmilla gently brushing her thumb against the back of her hand set the hairs of her arms on end.

“Come on Cupcake,” Carmilla said patiently, “what’s going on in that big, never stops, brain of yours?”

Laura didn’t dare take her eyes off the ceiling. She knew if she looked at Carmilla then Carmilla would know. Carmilla would know she had not been having a nightmare, but rather a pretty agreeable dream in which they were both rather naked and having a swell time. She blew her hair out her face with a frustrated huff and hoped she wasn’t blushing.

“Oh,” Carmilla smirked as she caught on, it was a little hot that Laura was acting coy, it was clearly that kind of dream. When Laura finally turned to look at her, it confirmed her suspicions, “Uh huh. I see.”

“Wait. What?” Laura asked, a small crinkle of confusion creasing her brow.

“Laura, your pupils are the size of saucers and you’re blushing fire hydrant red,” Carmilla brushed some stray hair behind Laura’s ear and let her hand linger on her jaw, “I know what you were dreaming about.”

“Carm,” Laura whined, “don’t.”

“Carm don’t what?” Carmilla asked with only a hint of innocence, she knew exactly what she was doing.

“Don’t drop your voice an octave and target me with those stupid, sexy seduction eyes. I’m over here trying to behave because you... I mean you’re...ugh.” Laura turned her face into her pillow and let out a little scream.

Carmilla tried her best not to laugh, which was hard when Laura had been making that cute little bunched up face, “I’m what?”

Laura looked up from her pillow, trying her best to look serious and sensible not at all like the turned-on hot mess express she currently felt like, “You can barely put a sweater on without grimacing still, you won’t be able to...you know.”

“Fuck you?” Carmilla suggested with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“Carm!” Laura blushed furiously.

“Make love?” Carmilla couldn’t stop the little laugh that bubbled out with that suggestion. It was too much fun riling Laura up.

Laura swatted Carmilla’s arm lightly, “Carmilla! This isn’t funny.”

“Au contraire, Cutie.” Carmilla closed the small gap between them, her lips barely grazing Laura’s, “I’m very amused.”

Laura couldn’t supress the shudder that wracked her whole body. Stupid. Sexy. Vigilante.

Carmilla smirked, “You know Sweetheart, there are things we can do that don’t involve a full physical workout.”

Laura snorted. When had they ever had sex that wasn’t a full physical workout?

“It’s not like I don’t also have wants and needs right now too.” Carmilla licked her lips to stop herself from kissing Laura. If she kissed Laura, the teasing would be over and she was so very much enjoying the teasing. She pushed the sheet covering her chest down, baring her breasts, “Is it suddenly hot in here?” Carmilla teased.

Laura groaned, for possibly the first time in the history of ever, she cursed the fact Carmilla slept in nothing but underwear, this wasn’t helping the fire stoking in her belly, “I don’t want to hurt you, what if I get caught up in the moment and...” Laura trailed off as she heard the rustle of fabric.

“We can keep our hands to ourselves.” Carmilla suggested, “Set our own pace”.

Laura gulped as she watched Carmilla’s hand slowly disappear under the covers. She moaned quietly as she imagined its trajectory south.

“Come on Laura,” Carmilla’s eyes fluttered shut and her breath hitched as she teased herself over her underwear, “use that writer’s imagination. Imagine me skimming my fingers along the inside of your thighs,” Carmilla sighed as she pressed her fingers against her covered clit, “Imagine me closing my mouth around your nipple, that little bite of teeth you like.”

Laura’s will broke around the same time as her stupid, hormone addled brain. She looked between Carmilla’s slightly parted, wet lips and her pert, pink nipples and couldn’t decide where to put her mouth first. Blinking hard, she took a deep breath and lent in to kiss Carmilla gently. Tentatively. She was weak, so very, very weak. The kiss soon turned breathless and needy as Laura slipped her hand into her own underwear, her hips twitching up as she exhaled a whimper. Her fingers met with wet, slick heat.

“Carm,” Laura breathed as she broke the kiss, their foreheads settling against one another.

“What do you need — Laura?” Carmilla choked out as she finally stopped teasing herself over her underwear and made direct contact with her swollen clit.

Laura removed her hand from her underwear and rolled Carmilla gently on to her back, “Is this ok?” Laura checked in as she hovered above her, making sure to keep her weight off Carmilla.

Carmilla nodded and pushed her legs further apart to allow Laura to settle between them more comfortably. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and stared hungrily at Laura.

Laura lowered her head, her mouth leaving a hot trail of kisses down the fading bruising on Carmilla’s neck. She transferred her weight on to one arm, and did a little one-armed push up before holding herself up above Carmilla. She double checked she wasn’t on placing any weight on any of Carmilla’s injuries.

“You’re just showing off now.” Carmilla groaned as she continued to play with herself, impressed with Laura’s display of strength.

“All that— extra— training coming in handy.” Laura grunted as she slipped her hand back into her underwear.

Carmilla circled the pads of her fingers over her clit a few more times, before pushing a finger inside herself. She arched gently off the bed and began to grind against her palm, “Laura,” she moaned.

Laura whimpered in response as she continued her own ministrations. When she followed Carmilla’s gaze, Laura realised Carmilla was intently watching her touch herself and she whined low and quiet. Laura lent in for a sloppy, desperate kiss. They panted and moaned against each other’s mouths.

Laura felt her fingers speed up, the back of Carmilla’s knuckles bumping against her own. She rubbed harder, squeezing her eyes shut and speeding up again until she came with a shuddering moan. Carmilla grabbed Laura by the back of the neck and kissed her hard. Laura smiled into the kiss as she registered Carmilla following her over the edge.

Laura laughed as she rolled off Carmilla carefully and on to her back, “Yeah, ok, that worked.”

Carmilla hummed in agreement. She was about to withdraw her hand from her underwear and ask Laura if she wanted a taste, when their room suddenly filled with a familiar flashing red light.

“Nooooo.” Laura complained as she threw the sheets back but didn’t attempt to get out of bed, her heart still hammering in her chest, “How do you do this after an orgasm?”

Carmilla smirked smugly, thankful that she got to stay in bed, and gave Laura a gentle nudge, “Duty calls, Cutie.

“I cannot wait until you’re doing this again and not me.” Laura huffed as she swung her legs out of bed.

Carmilla simply laughed as she watched Laura open and close dresser drawers clumsily.

“How’s your day looking tomorrow?” Laura asked as she hopped into some clean underwear and threw someone’s nearby t-shirt over her head. She looked down, 80’s punk band, it was Carmilla’s.

“I’ve got that press conference with the Mayor and elected city officials in the morning.” Carmilla propped herself up on her elbows, “Where I don’t doubt he’ll take entirely all the credit for the new public assistance programs that Karsntein Enterprises are funding.”

“I’m covering that for the paper,” Laura nodded as she pulled on some sweatpants, “lunch after?”

“Quick lunch,” Carmilla suggested, “Dan and I have the police reform panel in the afternoon.”

“Remind me again what you have to do with police reform?” Laura teased. The sheets had slipped to pool around Carmilla’s waist and it was taking all her will power not to climb back into bed.

Carmilla tapped her chin sarcastically, “I believe it would be money, again.” She watched Laura looking around haplessly before pointing to where Laura’s sneakers lay under the armchair in their room, “And obviously a vested interest in the safety of the citizens of Styria City.” Carmilla said more seriously.

“Tell the Captain I said hi.” Laura requested as she pulled on her sneakers.

“That woman hates me,” Carmilla huffed, “she is nowhere near to putting two and two together but I know that she knows I’m somehow responsible for her losing two of her best detectives.”

Laura leant over the bed and gave Carmilla a quick kiss, “I gotta go.”

“Yes, you do.” Carmilla chased Laura’s lips and pouted when they were finally out of her reach.

Laura smacked a button on the wall of their bedroom with gusto, smiling as a circular trap door in the floor opened up and a fireman’s pole dropped from the ceiling.

Carmilla groaned as she flopped gently back on to the bed, “I hate that thing and I will never understand why LaFontaine installed it.”

“It’s quicker than the stairs” Laura protested as she hopped on to the pole, using her core and leg muscles to keep her from sliding down it for the time being, “you’re just jealous you haven’t got the all clear to try it yet.”

“Pfft, whatever Poptart,” Carmilla laced her hands behind her head and looked at Laura through sleepy, smug eyes, “Be careful.”

“Always.” With a goofy salute, Laura slid down the pole and into the bunker. Landing safely in the new control room, she gave Will a little wave.

Will nodded a hello from his usual spot in front of the super computer he’d built to track crime across the city. Multiple screens were spread across one wall with a massive mixing desk type control system that only he seemed to know how to pilot with any efficiency.

“What we got?” Laura asked as she strode into the armoury come wardrobe that LaFontaine and Karl had recently finished. It was lined with all their weaponry and equipment. Laura tapped the case that held Carmilla’s new replacement Luna suit as if she was telling it to be patient, then she tapped the case holding Danny’s gear – more for luck than anything else. Finally, she came to a stop in front of the one that housed her own.

“There’s a student protest happening at the University,” Will began.

“I saw it on the news earlier,” Laura called from the armoury, “It’s still going?”

“Yeah and the cops are getting twitchy to shut it down.” Will explained as he tapped away at his keyboard, “I figured you’d maybe want to get down there and keep an eye on it just in case. They rolled in one of those ridiculous sound canons an hour or so ago, but so far it’s just sat there.”

“Dissidence is always worth getting out of bed for.” Laura said as she stepped out the armoury, pulling her hood over her head, “Did Kirsch check the tracking on the car? Danny said was pulling to the left something fierce last night when she was driving.”

Will smirked knowingly, “Kirsch says Danny needs to be gentler with his car.” He tossed Laura the keys, “But yeah, he sorted out the issue and grumbled a lot about possibly getting Danny something easier to drive.”

Laura laughed as she slid into the driver’s seat. A bicycle would be the only thing safe for Danny to drive, that’s why Laura had done most the driving back when they were cops. She buckled up and turned the key in the ignition, a broad smile crossing her face as the Chevy roared to life. The new engine LaF and Kirsch had installed made the thing purr like a giant, black cat.

Carmilla padded her way down into the bunker just in time to see Laura disappear up the tunnel. She paused to observe her brother. He was looking well, not quite back to full health but certainly better than he had been when they brought him home a few weeks ago. He’d kept his beard and longer hair, a slight disguise just in case anyone recognised him from his previous time spent in Styria City, and was working towards getting his full body strength back.

Sitting a cup of coffee next to Will, Carmilla pulled up a seat and watched intently as he switched each screen to its own camera feed. Laura’s dashboard cam, Laura’s body cam and various traffic cams that could monitor Laura’s progress popped up as he activated them. Carmilla had to admit, her brother was a genius when it came to this stuff. She had zero idea what he was doing. Computers were just not her thing. Will had been so offended when she’d asked him if you could play Solitaire on the supercomputer that she just nodded and smiled anytime he told her about something it could do.

Between LaFontaine, Perry, Kirsch and Will, Luna was going to have the best support team anyone could ask for. Not to mention she had not one, but two sidekicks now. Danny could argue all she liked that she wasn’t a sidekick, but Carmilla knew how this worked, she was the main vigilante and they were her sidekicks. End of.

Pantera hopped up into Carmilla’s lap and she instantly began to shower the cat with fuss and baby talk. Will looked at his sister sideways as she mumbled about how much she’d missed the cat and Pantera purred and nuzzled her head under Carmilla’s chin. He was about to tease her about how affectionate she was with the animal when Carmilla asked,

“How was your date with the guy we left you talking to at the bar last week, the puzzle guy from Laura’s paper?”

“His name is Edward,” Will scoffed and ran his hand through his now lustrous and well-kept beard, “and it wasn’t a date.”

“Sure, sure, it wasn’t a date.” Carmilla teased, “It was two people who clearly have a lot in common having drinks. Together. Alone.”

Will shook his head, “It’s called making friends ‘milla. Unlike you, from what I hear, I can talk to people and not want to instantly fall into bed with them.”

“Hey,” Carmilla kicked out at Will’s chair with her foot and spun him away from the console, “I’m a one woman, woman.”

“Now.” Will spun round in his chair before stopping and sticking his tongue out at his sister.

“Yes, very good William,” Carmilla tried to look annoyed, “Please stop getting your back story on me from Danny Lawrence. She is not a credible source.”

Will cocked an eyebrow, “Oh that nugget of info came from your paramour.”

Carmilla sneered half seriously, betrayed even by Laura. How would she ever go on? She looked up at the monitors and watched Laura’s car zip through the Styria City traffic. Carmilla smirked into her coffee mug as she took a long sip. She would get her vengeance later when Laura came back from the call out.

“You speak to Dad today?” Will asked as he continued to punch away at the keyboard in front of him.

Carmilla nodded in the affirmative, “I spoke to him in the library earlier,” she replied, “I think Dad just has some catching up to do.”

“We all do.” Will said a little sadly.

“Better late than never.” Carmilla nudged Will and smiled. They weren’t quite huggers yet, but baby steps first.

“The new Karnstein family motto!” Will laughed as he raised his coffee mug.

Carmilla clinked her mug off Will’s and kicked her feet up on the console. She smirked and started counting the seconds it would take for him to admonish her. It only took ten. A new record.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much everyone for coming on this ride with me, again. Your comments and chat have been much appreciated.
> 
> Stay tuned in December, I may have a Xmas Smutacular up my sleeve.


End file.
